


After the Snap...

by bethy_277



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Made Myself Cry, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-02-10 02:15:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 55,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18650860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethy_277/pseuds/bethy_277
Summary: Peter survives the snap by Thanos, and has to find his way back to Earth with Tony & Nebula- to find out who was lost and where to go from here.Will be sort of a fix-it to Endgame, but going into depth about the 5 years, before going into defeating Thanos and the aftermath of that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Logical side of my brain: Do NOT start another fic. You have three WIPs and potentially starting IronDad bingo soon...  
> The Emotional side of my brain: Endgame hurt you. Fix it. 
> 
> So here I am- starting another fic. This idea popped into my head earlier and i've been thinking about it all day. I started off with a smaller chapter but will hopefully increase the length of them as I go on. I just really wanted to see what happened during those 5 years, so I figured I would write it myself. It should focus mostly on Peter and Tony, but with the other characters in there too. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel, it's characters, anything to do with the movies etc. I just love me some IronDad.

“I don’t feel so good...” 

“You’re alright.”

Peter fell to the ground with Tony’s arms around him, his legs unable to support him as the panic coursed through his body. He had just seen multiple people disappear in front of him and his brain couldn’t comprehend it. Tony had a death grip with one arm around Peter’s back, and one hand behind Peter’s head. As Peter stared at him, he could see the fear in his mentors eyes, and it did nothing to soothe his own fear.

He closed his eyes as he waited for his body to start the disappearing process. Tony’s arm got even tighter around his back, Peter didn’t know that was possible. He was also afraid that in any moment that arm would disappear, along with his mentor. Peter didn’t fully understand what was happening, and he was beyond frightened.

“Pete.” Tony called out but Peter kept his eyes closed, too afraid to look at the man. 

He lay still for a few moments longer before he dared to open his eyes. Tony was still there, solid in front of him, and Peter realized neither he or Tony were disappearing. 

This realization did nothing to soothe the pounding in his head and the panic that was still coursing through his body. Tony wasn’t looking at him, but rather over Peter’s head at something Peter couldn’t see. 

“Mister Stark?” Peter called out and the man’s attention shot back to him, his eyes full of relief- a distinct difference from the fear Peter had previously seen.

“I think we’ve gotten to the point where you call me Tony, kid.” Tony said. He sounded shaky to Peter but he moved his hand from behind Peter’s head and brushed down the teenagers face gently, his hand shaking slightly as he did so. Peter had never seen his hands shake before.  

“What were you looking at?” Peter asked. 

“The blue asassin is still here too. Us two and her.” Tony replied as his eyes went back over Peter’s head. 

“What happened?” Peter got out and Tony’s eyes darted back, sadness appearing in them.

“It looks like Thanos got what he wanted kid. Snapped half the universe.” Tony replied softly.

“And we survived?” Peter asked

“Looks like it.”

Peter took a deep breath and thought about that for a moment before suddenly pushing himself up off the ground when thoughts raced into his mind. His head swam and he flopped right over into Tony’s arms. The man pushed him gently back down onto the ground.

“Careful kid. You’re coming down from a pretty serious adrenaline rush there.”

“May! Ned! MJ! What if they got dusted?” Peter gasped out.

“We’ll get back to Earth and find out Pete.” Tony replied and Peter saw how pale the man was. A moment later had Peter thinking about Happy and Pepper and Rhodey and worrying if they were okay. During the years that Tony had been his mentor, Peter had formed bonds with all three of the adults and thinking about any of them disappearing had his head swimming again. 

“That might be difficult.” A mechanical voice came from above Peter’s head, and he shifted himself around so he could see where it was coming from. The blue assassin Tony had mentioned was standing there, knives at her side.

“What? There’s a ship right there.” Tony motioned towards the ship behind him, and in front of Peter. The ship that the group who called themselves The Guardians had arrived on the planet in. Peter swallowed hard as he thought about the fact that all of them were gone- he couldn’t remember their names, but he could definitely remember their faces. 

“It sustained damage. It may be unrepairable.” the asassin replied.

“I haven’t met a problem I can’t fix.” Tony stated confidently. The android stared at Tony before Peter broke the silence because he was curious. 

“What’s your name?” Peter asked.

“Nebula.” The android replied.

“You knew the person those idiots were looking for? Gammy or something?” Tony asked.

“Gamora.” Nebula replied. “She was my sister, and Thanos killed her to get the soul stone.” 

“I’m sorry.” Peter said, a rush of sadness rushing through him as he looked at Nebula.

Nebula shrugged as she half turned away. “We weren’t particularly close.” 

“But she was still your sister.” Peter pointed out. 

There was a moment of silence before Tony started getting to his feet, carefully pulling Peter up with him. Peter allowed himself to be pulled up and worked on keeping himself up on his feet. Tony steadied him for a moment before Peter pulled away, feeling slightly steadier than he had been the last time he was on his feet. Tony grunted as he released Peter and his hand went to his side.

“Tony?” Peter asked. He hesitated slightly, aware of what he had said but feeling like it was right.

“Finally kid.”

“Are you okay?”

“Just a minor stab wound. It’ll heal.” 

Peter jolted at Tony’s words as he stared at the man nonchalantly sealing up his side with something from inside his severely damaged suit.

“You were stabbed? How did I miss that?”

“You were busy trying not to be squashed, a fact that I am glad of.” 

“That can’t be sanitary.” Peter pointed to the sealant Tony was using.

“It’ll work until we get back to Earth.” Tony clapped his hands together as he finished with his side, and turned to Nebula who hadn’t moved from where she stood, watching the two interact with one another. 

“Tell me what’s wrong with the ship.” 


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I have never had such a strong response to the first chapter of a fic before... I guess we're all trying to fix that Endgame...
> 
> On a different note, I saw the movie again today- pretty much for this fic so that I could get a refresher. I went in and was telling myself "you got this. no crying this time. you totally got this."  
> Spoiler alert: I did not have it. Not even close. 
> 
> But anyways, here is the new chapter. It's angsty but this story is going to be angsty as well as fluffy and filled with IronDad/SpiderSon. I'm not planning on skipping over any ramifications that the snap could have had. My mind is going slightly wild with them. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel or anything that I pulled from any of the movies.

“Okay, so you hold your hands up like this.” Tony suggested to Nebula. The assassin copied Tony’s hands and put her hands up in the shape of a goal. Tony had a paper football in his hand, ready to use his hands to flick it back over to Nebula.

“Good.” Tony praised as he moved his hands to flip the football to Nebula. His first shot went beyond the goal, and Nebula picked it up, looking at it curiously.

“Okay and now you flick it back to me, try to get it in the goal.” Tony explained as he shifted his hands into the goal. Nebula growled as she flicked the football, landing it to the right of Tony’s goal. He smiled at her as she adjusted her hands.

“That’s okay. We can try again.” Tony encouraged as he flicked the football into her direction. His shot soared to her left, missing the goal entirely.

“Now you shoot it back to me, try to get into the goal.”

Nebula flicked her fingers to send the football back towards Tony, landing in his goal. She yelled out in happiness and Tony smiled at her.

“That’s great! Now we’re tied up.” He sent it back towards her, missing her goal again, sending the football off of the table. As Nebula reached down to the floor, Tony sent a look over to where Peter was sitting. The teenager had been struggling with being in space for the past 2.5 weeks and Tony was worried about him. Tony was starting to suffer from the lack of food and he knew Peter’s metabolism was making the process way worse for him. Peter had refused to take any food from Tony when the man had tried to offer, instead only eating the small rations that the three had been splitting up, and Tony could see how thin the teenager had gotten.

Peter was currently lying in one of the chairs, his head resting on one of his hands, with his legs curled up beneath him. His eyes were half closed as he stared at the ground and Tony couldn’t remember the last time Peter had actually spoken words that were beyond “I’m okay.” He had been playing the game initially but had grown tired and moved away from them for the chair.

“Haha!” Nebula shot the paper football at Tony who threw his hands up quickly, the football landing in said goal.

“Well done. You won.” He said to Nebula who shouted happily and then smiled. It was an expression Tony had never seen on her face and he felt himself softening slightly, despite his concern for Peter. He had been encouraging Nebula to play different games between them trying to fix the ship but this was the first time he had seen a positive response from her.

Tony’s eyes drifted back to Peter, the teenager still lying in the chair. He was pale, and his cheeks looked much thinner than they had before. He was already thinner than the average teenager, and now he looked awful. There was a bottle of water next to him, but it was barely touched due to Peter refusing to drink if no one else could.

“Is the boy alright?” Nebula asked from behind Tony. He shifted his eyes to her to see her gaze also in the direction of Peter, a hint of concern in her eyes.

“His metabolism is much more advanced than other humans. He needs more food.” Tony replied. The concern that had been building up for the past few days was raging inside again. The concern was for everyone else, the other people in Tony’s life that he didn’t know their fate of, but mostly concern for Peter. The three of them had been trying to fix the ship’s damage, using whatever they could to try to get the fuel systems to sort themselves out, but they hadn’t had any luck so far.

“Did you have fun?” Tony asked Nebula who nodded as she set the paper football down. Tony shifted in his chair and winced at it pulled at his wound, his head swimming as he moved. Nebula noticed and pointed to Tony’s side.

“I need to take a look at that again.”

Tony nodded as he stood up. The wound in his side had been healing up nicely with the antiseptic like substance Nebula had found on the ship but it wasn’t all the way there. He lay on the ground, lifting up the corner of Quill’s long sleeved as Nebula leaned over him. He flinched slightly as the cold spray hit his side but the pain eased quickly. Tony waited a moment before he pulled the shirt back down and sat up, his head swimming slightly again.

“The boy is not the only one suffering from lack of food. You are too.” Nebula said. Tony knew she wasn’t wrong, but he was choosing to not focus on that. He knew that he had also lost weight, he was much more fatigued and slow moving than he usually was but he wasn’t his main priority. His main priority was getting home, he needed to get Peter home, and he needed to know about Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and May. The latter being Peter’s main concern.

“Shall we try again?” He asked Nebula, motioning to the area of the ship where there were tools, and goggles along with wielding equipment. Three different areas were set up, Peter having been helping the first few days before he had started fading. Tony glanced over at him again, not totally surprised to see that the teenagers eyes were fully closed now. Peter had been falling asleep much faster but Tony had been waking him up each time to make sure that it was only sleep, and nothing more serious before letting him go back to sleep.

 Tony pulled himself up off the ground, walking over to the chair and putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder. He shook the teenagers’ shoulder gently as he had before, expecting Peter’s eyes to open. Peter didn’t respond and Tony’s heart began racing. He pushed against Peter’s shoulder again, much harder this time. There was still no response from the teenager.

“Peter!” Tony spoke loudly as he shoved his hand hard on Peter’s shoulder, knocking against the arm Peter’s hand rested upon. Peter’s head slipped off his hand and flopped down against Tony’s arm. Tony put both hands on Peter’s head and pushed him up so his head was leaning against the back of the chair, one of Tony’s hands on his forehead keeping it in place.

“Kid.” Tony shook Peter again, panic racing through him. There was still no response from Peter.

“Stark?” Nebula asked from behind Tony. He turned around, keeping his hand on Peter’s forehead, to see her standing behind him looking confused.

“He won’t wake up!” Tony shot out, his voice higher pitched in his panic. He turned back to Peter, reaching down for the bottle of water. He used his free hand to uncap the bottle, and poured some into Peter’s slack mouth. He set the bottle back down and massaged Peter’s throat, trying to get the teenager to swallow. After a few moments of massaging, the water went down the teen’s throat and Tony tried again. He managed to get down a quarter of the bottle before he gave up.

Tony placed his hand on the side of Peter’s neck, unexplainably relieved when he felt the pulse there. Peter’s heartrate was faster than the normal human and much faster than Tony’s, and it unnerved Tony to feel how much slower it was than normal.

“We need to try to get this fixed.” He said to Nebula who was still standing behind him. “I need to get him home.”

“We can try. There is enough for one more attempt.” Nebula replied. Tony adjusted Peter until he was resting more comfortably in the chair, his head leaning back against the back of the chair. He reluctantly pulled away from the kid as he got up to head to where the welding equipment was. Nebula followed him and they knelt down to their previous spots. Tony picked up a welding torch, and a pair of goggles as he faced one of the fuel cells.

He glanced at Peter one more time before turning his attention to the cell. He and Nebula had been attempting to fix the fuel leaking from the cells in an effort to preserve enough fuel to get to Earth. The cells had been damaged in the fight, and a large amount of the fuel had been depleted. The two-along with Peter- had been slightly successful but not as much as they wanted to be which had left them stranded.

Tony focused on the sparks flying below him as he continued his welding work from before. His mood had changed completely from the good feeling he had when he was laying with Nebula, to complete and utter panic about Peter.

He had thought he was going to lose Peter on Titan, and seeing the teenager survive that was one of the most relieving moments of Tony’s life. He hadn’t thought then that he would lose the teenager just a few weeks later while they were stranded from Earth and that thought was terrifying him.

He didn’t realize how long he had been focused on the welding until he felt Nebula’s hand on his shoulder and he flinched. He set the welder down and turned around to her.

“It is not working.” Nebula told him and Tony’s heart dropped.

“No, no it will.” Tony protested.

“Stark, it won’t. It’s beyond repair.” Nebula replied.

“I can’t give up! I can’t give up on the kid!” Tony yelled back at her. He tried to grab the welder back but she pulled it away from him.

“It is too late.”

“No!” Tony protested again. He could feel tears forming in his eyes as he looked back at Peter, slumped in the chair. He couldn’t just give up on the teenager, the kid that he loved. His head swum again and he fell back, leaning against the closest wall. He shut his eyes as he waited for the dizziness to pass, his vision blurred from the tears forming.

When he opened his eyes again, Nebula was standing at his shoulder. She handed him a pack of half filled vacuum sealed blueberries which he took from her. He tried to offer her some but she refused. Tony tipped the blueberries into his mouth and then stopped. One glance over at Peter had the blueberries tasting sour in his mouth, as he tried to swallow them.

“That’s the last of the food.” Nebula announced and Tony nodded.

“I guess this is it.” He said, more to himself than anything. Nebula didn’t reply to him, didn’t even acknowledge his statement beyond a slight nod and a faint sigh.

“Will you be alright?” Tony asked her, unsure of how her body worked. She hadn’t shown any of the signs of malnourishment that he and Peter were suffering from.

“I am made of mostly parts. I will be fine.” Nebula replied.

“But you’ll be stuck here, with two bodies.” Tony surmised.

“Yes.” Nebula nodded as she turned away.  “If any of the other Guardians survived, they’ll come eventually.”

-

The next few days passed in a blur for Tony. Peter didn’t open his eyes, but his heart still beat and Tony continued to try to get water into him, only succeeding on a few occasions. He drank a little water himself but not seeing much point in the action, only delaying the inevitable. He found himself without any energy, not bothering to try anything except spend his time with Peter.

He was keeping his hand on Peter’s thin wrist, so that he would be aware of when he could feel Peter slipping away. He had accepted it was going to happen, and despite how sick and devastated it was making him feel, he needed to know the exact moment it happened. He was hoping Peter would go before him, so that the boy didn’t have any chance of experience Tony dying.

It was 22 days in before Tony even thought about sending a message to Pepper with the suit’s helmet. He didn’t even know if she was alive, or if she would ever get the message but he decided he needed to try. Tony forced himself to move away from Peter and over to where the helmet was, reaching over and turning it on before he started talking.

 _“Is this thing on? Hey Ms. Potts. If you find this recording, don’t post it on social media…”_ Tony started off the recording before continuing. _“I don’t even know if you’re still… oh God, I hope so. Today’s day 21? No uh, 22. So, the fuel cells were cracked during the battle, and we managed to fix it momentarily but now we’re dead in the water. I know I said no more surprises, but I gotta say, I was really hoping to pull off one last one. If you see May Parker, please tell her Pete is with me. He’s fading, but he isn’t suffering.”_ Tony knew that was a lie, but he didn’t want May Parker knowing that her nephew suffered on his way out, if May was even alive.

_“Tell her he was so brave. He fought with all he had and she would be proud of him. Please don’t feel about this. I should probably go lie down now, rest my eyes. Please know that when I drift off, I’ll dream about you. Because it’s always you.”_

Tony turned the helmet off and moved back to where Peter was. Nebula had moved him to the ground so Tony could lie down next to him, and make it easier to keep track of the teenagers’ pulse. There was a pillow under Peters’ head, and he was lying on blankets to make him more comfortable, not that the teenager was aware of it. The pillow and blankets were Tony’s idea, trying anything he could to ease the teenagers passing.

As he lay back down next to Peter, the tears formed in Tony’s eyes again. He was surprised he could even form tears with how dehydrated he felt. A few tears fell down his cheeks and he didn’t even attempt to wipe them away, too exhausted to even move his arms. His hand circled around Peter’s wrist again, the pulse slower than the days previous.

As the tears ceased, Tony closed his eyes. He didn’t know where Nebula was in the ship but he could hear moving around. Tony started drifting towards sleep, and as he drifted, he sensed Nebula walking towards him. A moment later, his head was lifted and a soft item was placed under it before his head was put back down. His tired brain recognized the item as a pillow.

Tony felt himself drifting, the only thing grounding him was the slow beat of Peter’s pulse. Tony wouldn’t allow himself to go until the teenager had gone.

He didn’t know how long he lay there before lights started dancing across his vision.

“Stark.” Nebula called out, and Tony forced his eyes open. The assassin was standing by the front windows of the Benatar, looking out. There was a yellow glow outside the window that seemed to be pulsing. Tony pushed himself up onto one elbow to see the lights dissolve into a blond woman.

“Am I hallucinating?” Tony asked.

“No. She is there.” Nebula replied.

“Tony Stark?” The woman called out, hovering in midair.

“Who are you?” Tony called back out to her.

“Carol Danvers. I’m here for you.” Carol responded.

“What do you mean? How did you know I was here? How do you know me?” Tony asked.

“I know Nick Fury. He called me to Earth. A raccoon named Rocket found the ship. There are many people looking for you.” Carol replied.

“You know Nick Fury?” Tony called back out. Nick had never mentioned knowing someone who could apparently fly in space, and not feel any lingering effects. 

“Yes. I’m taking you home.” Carol called back and Tony looked back down at Peter. His pulse was even slower, but it was still there.

“How fast can you get us home? The kid isn’t going to last much longer.” Tony asked.

“I can fly at lightspeed. I’ll get you home quickly.” Carol replied. She started to transition back into her glowing self and Tony called out, not being able to help herself.

“Who survived? Who is looking?”

“A group that calls themselves the Avengers? Natasha, Steve, Thor, Bruce, James, Rocket and Pepper.” Carol replied before fully turning into a glow, and a moment later the ship started moving again.

Tony set his head back on the ground, relief flowing through him at the knowledge that Pepper and Rhodey were both alive. Carol hadn’t mentioned Happy so Tony could only hope on that front. His eyes remained dry but Tony knew if he could, they would be filling with tears.

“Hold on kid. We’re almost home.” Tony whispered to the teenager lying on the ground next to him, his hand tightening around the wrist. Once they got to Earth, Tony could get Peter some help and get him rehydrated. Tony had more hope pulsing through his body than he had the last 3 weeks.

“Just hold on a little while longer Pete. Stay with me kid. You’ve held on this long, just a little while longer. Don’t leave me now kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next chapter will have our three back home, with some slight changes there. And after that, I head into uncharted waters for a while until I get into the 5 years, but that won't be for a while yet. Oh and next chapter, you'll find out what I chose about May's fate...
> 
> Please comment and let me know how you are liking this, or if you think there is anything I can change. As a writer, I live for feedback and constructive criticism. :) I am also 100% open to suggestions if there's anything you want to see. I have multiple notebook pages filled with random thoughts and will certainly be adding to it.
> 
> Oh also, I apologize if any of the characters ever seem OOC. Some of them are seriously difficult to write- Nebula is one.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! So seriously, I have never had such a strong response to a story before, ever. There are so many of you subscribed to this, or who have bookmarked or kudos'd and that is just crazy to me! I hope I continue to live up to all of your expectations with this as we all pretend that the end of Endgame didn't actually happen. 
> 
> With that comment, I do want to clarify one thing. I got an ask about a certain part of this story which was a really good one. The fact that Peter is alive kind of takes away Tony's motivation. This was actually something I thought quite hard about before I posted this, especially since everyone important to Tony survives here. My plan- and hopefully this works- is that Tony gets motivated because Peter loses people, and his love for the kid makes him want to bring Peter's loved ones back. So I hope i can translate this over correctly, especially when we get to that point.
> 
> But we have a ways to go yet- 5 years in fact. I definitely won't be writing about all 5 years without skipping forward in time but I do want to explore how the world adapts, and the relationship between Tony and Peter.  
> So yep. 
> 
> Disclaimer: As per usual, I own nothing Marvel or any of the dialogue that was taken from Endgame.
> 
> Warnings- someone getting sick, multiple people getting sedated.

“Tony!” There were shouts coming from outside the jet, but Tony’s eyes were solely on Peter.

“Stark.” Tony looked up to see Nebula standing above him holding out a hand towards him. Tony shook his head motioning a shaky hand to Peter who was still lying unmoving. Nebula disappeared from Tony’s sight as he tried lifting a shaky hand to shake the teenagers’ shoulder. He was so focused on his movements that he didn’t even register that Nebula was back in his sight until he saw Rhodey standing with her.

“Tony.” Rhodey knelt down next to him and Tony just stared at him, trying to comprehend that his best friend was there, that he was solid and that he was there. Rhodey pulled at Tony’s shoulders and yanked him up, throwing his arms around him as he pulled him into a hug. A hug that on any other occasion Tony would have pulled back from. This particular instance saw Tony’s eyes filling up with moisture. He blamed that on the exhaustion and malnourishment.

“It is damn good to see you. We thought you were gone.” Rhodey muttered. He pulled back from Tony and stared at his face as Tony fought to moisturize his mouth so he could talk.

“Pep? Happy?” He asked hoarsely and Rhodey nodded.

“They both survived. Pepper is outside, Happy is in the city but we’ll let him know you’re here and he’ll come.”

Tony closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. He couldn’t believe that everyone he cared about had survived. His best friends, his fiancé and the kid. It was one thing to have someone tell him they had survived, but another to confirm it, and to actually see them. Rhodey put his hand on Tony’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Can you get up?”

“The kid.”

“I’ll get him. Your blue friend is going to help you up.”

“Nebula.” Tony replied to Rhodey. The man nodded as he stepped away from Tony to Peter’s side. As Nebula came over to help Tony up, Rhodey picked up Peter. The teenager flopped in the mans’ arms and Rhodey shifted his grip to keep Peter in a bridal carry. Tony knew the kid was thin but muscular on a normal day and it was terrifying that Rhodey could carry him without any problems at all. Nebula pulled Tony off the ground, and he leaned heavily into her as they headed towards the steps behind Rhodey and Peter.

It was slow going as Tony’s legs didn’t want to cooperate much, but they eventually made it to the entrance of the ship, and headed down the stairs. As they reached the bottom, Nebula let go and moved away from Tony. He looked ahead to see Steve standing right in front of him, looking devastated but alive. Tony hadn’t seen him in so long that it was a jolt to his system.

“The kid?” Steve motioned to Peter who was still in Rhodey’s arms. Bruce was standing there, starting to look him over. Rhodey had concern written all over his face. He knew the kid, had gotten to be quite close to Peter since Tony had introduced the two of them formally after the incident in Germany.

“Spiderman. We lost everyone else who was with us.” Tony replied. The guilt hit him at that moment, thinking about the Guardians and Strange who had all been lost. He should have been able to prevent this, keep Thanos from getting the stone and snapping.

 He glanced around to see Nebula sitting at the bottom of the steps, sitting with what looked like a raccoon. The creature looked beyond devastated as he took Nebula’s hand. Natasha was standing a few feet away, watching the two of them.

“Tony, we all lost.” Steve replied as Tony looked back at him. He looked like he wanted to say more, but Pepper was suddenly there, her eyes filled with tears. She threw her arms around Tony and he breathed into her neck, heavy breaths as he struggled to handle his emotions. Pepper’s breath hitched as they stood there, arms around one another just relishing in the fact that they were both solid and breathing.  

“Can we go inside? They both need medical attention.” Bruce’s voice broke into the hug and Pepper nodded. She pulled Tony’s arm around her shoulder, to help him walk towards the entrance to the Compound. It was a slow walk but eventually they reached the common room area that was attached to the Medbay. Pepper deposited Tony into a chair as the others all grouped around.

“Can you put an IV in? I’ll take care of the kid.” Bruce asked motioning to Rhodey who nodded as he lay Peter down in a bed, the teenager still completely out of it. Rhodey turned towards Tony, the equipment in his hands.

“Peter. His name is Peter.” Tony called out to Bruce who nodded. Rhodey knelt next to Tony, pulling over a coat rack which he put the IV bag on before plunging the needle into Tony’s arm. Tony flinched but could almost immediately feel the cool liquid of the IV running through his veins. He looked around to see the others all standing awkwardly around the TV screens that were changing to show different faces. Tony saw Wanda, Bucky and Sam Wilson’s faces all flash across the screen before Natasha started speaking.

“He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He wiped out half the universe. Half of all living things.”

“How do you know these people are all missing?” Tony asked.

“We were all in Wakanda. Everyone except you and Peter over there. Thanos killed Vision and got the mind stone and then disappeared. Not long after people started disappearing. TChalla included.” Natasha explained. “Thor tried to kill him, but Thanos just used the stones to get away.”

At the mention of Thor, Tony looked around as he realized that he hadn’t even seen the God. He noticed Thor sitting back a ways from where everyone else was, staring at the ground and not even taking part in the discussion.

“What’s wrong with him?” He asked and it was the raccoon creature who responded.

“He’s pissed. He thinks he failed. Which, of course he did, but you know, there’s a lot of that going around.”

“Tony.” Steve spoke up. “We’ve been hunting him for 3 weeks but we don’t have anything. You fought him.” Just looking at Steve caused anger to flush through Tony’s body, the anger and guilt running amok.

“What are you talking about? He wiped my face with a planet and the wizard gave away a stone. There was no fight.”

“Okay, did he give you any clue, any coordinates?” Steve asked completely ignoring Tony, and Tony’s anger surged. He had warned about this before, and no one had believed him. They had just laughed it off, and then abandoned him. Left him to fight on a planet, with people he didn’t know and a teenager who he had to protect with all that he had and who he could hardly believe was still alive.

“You know, I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision.”

“Tony, I need you to focus.” Steve cut in and Tony had had enough of the soldier

“You know what? I needed you. As in past tense. It’s too late buddy. Do you remember me saying we needed a suit of armor around the world? Remember that? That’s what we needed!” Tony wrenched himself out of the chair, reaching to pull the IV out of his arm in his anger. He couldn’t stand the look on Steve’s face. His legs were shaking uncontrollably and Rhodey tried to get him to sit back down.

“That didn’t work out did it?” Steve asked.  

“I said we’d lose. You said, “we’ll do that together” and guess what Steve? We lost. And you weren’t there. I had a team I didn’t know, a wizard and a teenager with me-“ Tony was shaking uncontrollably now, Rhodey’s arms the only thing holding him up as the man tried to get him to stop talking and sit back down, which Tony was having none of.

“I have nothing for you Cap. Absolutely nothing.

“Tony?” Peter’s voice cut in and he looked over to where the beds were. The teenagers’ eyes were open for the first time in days and Tony’s heart soared. Peter looked confused and exhausted but his eyes landed on Tony.

“Hey kid.” Tony breathed, his emotions once again getting the best of him as his eyes filled with tears once more.

“Tony-“ Steve cut in and Tony whirled back on him.

“Here. You take this.” He grabbed the reactor from his chest and threw it at Steve. The soldier instinctively caught it and Tony raised a shaking finger to the mans’ chest. “You take that, and you find him-“

Tony cut off as his body finally gave up.

"Tony!" There were multiple voices that shouted as Tony's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor. Steve's hands were in front of him, holding onto the Reactor, and he shoved them away. He could hear Peter above them all, calling his name sounding panicked. His head spun as he tried to hold himself up but his arms gave out and Tony hit the ground completely, his eyes closing as his head hit the floor. He felt soft hands at his shoulders and another pair touching his face that he recognized as Pepper.

"Tony." Pepper called out softly, and Tony dragged his eyes open to see her face right above his.

"We need to get him in a bed. Thor, Rhodes, help me." Bruce's hands were on Tony's arm and a moment later he felt a prick in his arm. He moved his head to see Bruce starting a new IV on the opposite arm from where Tony had ripped it out. The scientist noticed Tony's eyes on him and he pulled away.

"An IV. It has a sedative in it. You need rest right now."

Tony nodded, unable to do much more. He didn't even think he really needed the sedative but he understood why Bruce had decided he did. Tony lay there as Thor and Rhodey came up to him- both of them grabbing an arm and yanking him up off the floor, Rhodey being careful of the IV. Tony's head swum and he stumbled to keep his feet under him. Pepper hissed at the two men to be careful as they walked the small journey over to the beds. Tony was rapidly losing consciousness but he was aware that the bed he was being placed in was next to where Peter was lying.

"Tony." Peter's voice was worried and Tony wanted to reassure him that he was okay, but the darkness was encroaching steadily in on him, and he couldn't move his mouth. He was aware of Pepper sitting down next to him, taking his hand and then he was gone.

  
\--

He woke up to raised voices, easily picking out Peter’s among them. Pepper was gone from his side and when he turned his head, Peter wasn’t in the bed next to him, the blankets crumpled as if they had been pushed aside in a hurry. The bed that Tony was lying in felt like the most comfortable thing he had ever laid in. He remembered that it was the Medbay beds which were not that comfortable on the best of days but anything beat the cold floor of the spaceship or the Compound floor.  

“I want to go with you!!”

“Absolutely not. You need to go get back in that bed and recover.” 

“I’m fine! I want to help.”

“Peter, you need to rest more. You were barely responsive earlier.”

“And now i’m fine.”

“Kid, you look about 30 seconds from collapsing. I don’t even know how you’re on your feet right now. You are not coming with us.”

“Thanos is the reason my aunt is gone! You just told me my aunt is gone! He’s the reason you all lost people who are important to you. I can’t let you go without me. I can’t, please.” Peter’s voice broke at the end of the sentence and Tony’s heart broke. The confirmation from the teenager that May was gone hurt more than Tony could have imagined. He liked May, he got along with May, he had complained to May on more than one occasion about Peter’s recklessness. The woman loved Peter with a ferociousness that Tony had never experienced before.

He didn’t fully know what was happening but he deduced that the team was going after Thanos. If he felt less weak, he would have considered getting out of the bed to help, if only to help bring the kids’ aunt back, but it had been hard to even move his head. He opted to lay there instead, listening to the raised voices. He couldn’t see anyone but he could tell they were right outside the Medbay door. He had picked up Pepper’s, Steve’s and Rhodey’s voices in addition to Peter’s so he could only assume that everyone else was out there.

“Kid, even if you weren’t dead on your feet, how do you think Tony would feel if he woke up and you weren’t here?”

That was Steve’s voice and Tony felt a surge of anger flow through him- now Steve was caring about him. 

“He’s not supposed to wake up for a while right?” Peter asked. 

“Well, Tony is actually awake.” Bruce's voice announced.

“What? Since when?” Pepper sounded concerned.

“Only a few moments. FRIDAY just let me know.” 

The next moment saw a whole group of people hurrying through the door towards Tony. Pepper, Rhodey and Bruce all walked over to the bed but Tony’s eyes stayed on Peter, who had stayed near to the door. He wouldn’t look at Tony, his eyes looking everywhere except for Tony. Tony could see that he was leaning heavily on the doorframe and that there was a slight shaking to his legs. 

“How do you feel?” Bruce’s question drew Tony’s eyes away from Peter and he looked at the scientist. He was sorely tempted to lie to Bruce, but he knew his friend would be able to see through him. They hadn’t seen each other in years aside from the few moments in Central Park before Tony boarded the ship, but even now he knew Bruce would pick up on his lying. He sighed before responding.

“Like I want to lie here forever.” Tony answered and Bruce nodded.

“You’re still very dehydrated. I’m putting a new IV in. You aren’t supposed to be awake right now.”

“What can I say? I defy expectations.” Tony quipped in an effort to get a smile out of Peter, who was still leaning against the wall. Tony noticed he wasn’t the only one looking at him and that Steve was watching him too.

“If we’re going, we should go.” Carol said at the door.

“Where are you going?” Tony asked.

“Thanos. We know where he is.” Rhodey answered from Tony’s other side and Tony nodded. His suspicions had been correct.

  
"Where?"

  
"There's a planet I know of. There was a reading there 2 days ago, he used the stones again." Nebula explained. “He’ll still be there.”

“Let’s go get this son of a bitch.” Steve announced.

“We’ll be back. You’ll be set until we get back.” Bruce said as he and Rhodey moved away from the bed.

“Are you all going?” Tony asked looking around at the assembled group.

“Pepper and Peter are staying.” Steve said, and there was an instant protest from the teenager.

“I am coming. You can’t stop me!” 

“Peter.”

“I’m coming! If there is a chance to reverse what he did, I’m helping. I didn’t stop him before, but I can help now.”

“Pete.” Tony tried. “Look at me.”

Peter turned his head and finally looked at Tony. The teenagers’ eyes sparkled with tears and his eyes were rimmed with red. He looked beyond exhausted and Tony’s heart clenched at the sight. He knew that 50% of the world had gone, and he was beyond lucky to have not lost anyone, but the teenager had lost yet another person who was important to him and Tony’s heart ached for him. A teenager who had lost far too much in his life and who needed to stop putting everything on himself. 

“You did so well on Titan kid. You need to rest. Let the others take care of dealing with Thanos.”

“How can you say that? How can I just leave May? And if my friends got taken, how can I leave them too?” Peter asked, his voice tinged with an anger Tony hadn’t heard before.

“Pete-“ Tony opened his mouth to speak, to explain that it wasn’t always on Peter to fix things, but Peter turned away, towards Steve. The rest of the group had moved out of the room and disappeared with only Steve, Bruce, Pepper, Tony and Peter staying behind. 

“You can’t make me stay behind.”

“Actually we can.” Bruce moved quickly and Tony noticed the syringe he had in his hands just before he plunged it into Peter’s neck.

“What?!” Peter shot around to look at Bruce, betrayal and anger in his eyes.

“I’m sorry Peter. But you need to rest, and if this is the only way, then it needs to be done.” 

Tony watched from the bed as the sedative Bruce had administered started to affect Peter. The teenager tried to keep himself on his feet, putting his arms out to steady himself against the wall but his legs quickly gave out. Steve positioned himself so that he could grab Peter as he fell. Tony couldn’t help but feel annoyed it was Steve with the kid. He wanted to be the one to catch Peter, to take care of him, but his body wasn't going to allow that.

 

He was surprised that Peter hadn’t sensed Bruce coming behind him with the sedative but he pushed that thought aside as he watched Peter.

Peter fell forwards into Steve’s outstretched arms, and although he initially tried to fight Steve’s arms wrapped around him, his efforts quickly slowed and he slumped into the soldiers’ chest. Tony watched as his eyes fully closed and he went completely limp against Steve. 

Steve hoisted Peter up so that he was holding him in a bridal carry as he walked over to the bed Peter had previously been occupying. He lay him down carefully, the teenagers head falling to the side of the pillow as he did so. 

“He’ll wake up in a few hours. We’ll be back soon, hopefully. When he wakes up, he needs to try eating. You do too.” 

“Bruce. Be safe.” Tony said softly to the man who was standing next to Peter. While Tony had a serious problem with most of the others, he didn’t want to lose Bruce, or Rhodey or even Nebula. 

“I’ll have the armour.” Bruce took Peter’s pulse, nodded to Tony and then left the room with Steve. 

Pepper sat herself down next to Tony, taking his hand in hers as she did so, but Tony’s eyes were solely on Peter. He reached a heavy arm out towards the sleeping teenager, putting his hand on his wrist. The pulse there was strong and steady, a complete turnaround from

where Peter’s pulse had been only hours before. He looked at Peter’s slack face and closed eyes, feeling his own eyes start to feel heavy again, as the sedative Bruce had administered earlier that day still ran its course through his body. 

“Do you want to try some broth?” Pepper asked Tony and he nodded, not taking his eyes of Peter. Peter’s face was pale and his eyes still red. He was still in his Spiderman outfit sans the mask, but he was also wearing a jacket that Tony knew had been in his room at the Compound and had not accompanied them to Titan. It was a jacket that May had given Peter a few weeks before the trip to space, and Peter had decided the Compound was the right place for it. While Tony had been able to wear some of Quill’s clothes, none of the clothes in the spaceship had even remotely fit Peter, so he had opted to stay in the suit.

“I’ll be right back.” Tony nodded as Pepper left the room. He continued his staring at Peter as his eyes started to close against his will. After jerking them open a few times, he gave up trying to keep them open. He knew Peter was safe and he couldn't do anything until the others came back from confronting Thanos and his body started cooperating with him again.  

He was only intending to keep them shut until Pepper came back with the broth, but when he opened them again, he could tell some time had passed. When he had been awake before, it had been dark, and now there was light behind the partially closed blinds. 

 

“Hey.” Rhodey’s voice said and Tony saw him standing by the window. He wasn’t looking at Tony and he didn’t turn around as Tony shifted in the bed, immediately alerting the man to something wrong. Panic went through Tony as he turned to see Peter not in the bed again.

“Where’s Peter? What’s wrong?” 

The unrestrained panic in Tony’s voice must have registered to Rhodey because he turned around quickly.

“Peter’s okay. He woke up a little while ago. He’s pretty pissed Bruce drugged him, but he’s also very upset.”

“Did you find Thanos?” Tony asked and Rhodey’s face changed.

“We did.”

“And?”

“The stones are gone. He destroyed them Tony. We can’t reverse what happened.” Rhodey said as he sat down heavily in the chair next to Tony. “We can’t bring anyone back. It’s over.” 

“Shit.” Tony swore.

“That’s an understatement.”

“Where’s Thanos now?”

“Thor killed him. Beheaded him. “ Rhodey rubbed his hands across his face as he spoke, and Tony noticed how exhausted the man looked. He reached out his hand to place it on Rhodes’ shoulder. The man placed his own hand on top of it as he refocused on Tony’s face. “No one even talked on the way back here. That was our last hope.” 

“Where’s Peter?” 

“He’s in his room- he refused to stay here. Pepper, Natasha and Carol are with him, trying to get him to eat something. Last I knew, it wasn’t going well.” 

“I need to go talk to him.” Tony pushed up against the bed, intending to pull himself out to go to the teenager. His body however wouldn’t cooperate, and he fell back against the bed, his arms shaking with the small effort.

“No, you need to stay here. You’re extremely weak and malnourished. Peter’s okay. Pepper will let us know if he’s not. There’s some broth over here that Pepper left.” 

Taking his hand off his shoulder, Rhodey reached behind Tony to reach the button that lifted the head of the bed up so that Tony was sitting up instead of lying down. As Tony adjusted himself to the change and pulled his own hand from Rhodey’s shoulder, Rhodey pulled over a rolling, collapsible table which the mentioned broth was sitting upon. Tony reached for the container but Rhodey pushed him back as he situated both Tony and the bowl. 

“Slowly.” Rhodey advised as he handed Tony the spoon. Tony had all the intentions in the world to eat slowly but the moment he smelled the broth, his stomach growled loudly and he started to inhale the broth, before Rhodey or his own brain could stop him. He was halfway done with the bowl before Rhodey wrestled the spoon away from him.

“That wasn’t slowly you idiot.” 

Tony’s only response was to lie back against the bed, his stomach already gurgling. Both he and Rhodes knew what was going to happen and an empty bowl was shoved under Tony’s chin. It only took a few moments before Tony’s stomach rebelled and he threw up.

It was only liquid and it burned Tony’s throat and nose as it shot out. He groaned as he lay back, the relief only lasting for a moment before he was hunched over the bowl again, throwing up more liquid. He could vaguely hear Rhodey’s voice, but he was more focused on the agonizing pain in his stomach and head, the pain in his head spiking each time he heaved. 

He wasn’t sure how much time passed before he was aware of Bruce and Pepper both in the room. He reached out and grabbed Pepper’s hand, the concern that she wasn’t with Peter still making its way through the pain he was experiencing.

“Peter.”

“He’s asleep. Natasha is staying with him.” Pepper replied softly. She reached over and smoothed Tony’s hair back from his forehead as he groaned.

“Tony, I’m putting some anti-nausea medicine in your IV. It should kick in shortly.” Bruce informed him and Tony nodded slowly, trying to prevent any more pain in his head. He felt his stomach clench again but then the anti-nausea medication hit him and the pain dissipated. He groaned again before he could stop himself at the relief he felt.

“Bruce, you are a wonderful person and I have missed you.”

“Tony, take Peter’s lead and get some more sleep. I’m going to put some more nutrients in the IV and we’ll try again with the food later.” Bruce didn’t respond to Tony’s compliment, dishing out advice instead. The bowl was taken out of Tony’s grip and his hands sank back down onto the bed, tangled in the covers.

Tony nodded as he lay his head back down on the pillows. Pepper reached behind him to lower the bed back down so Tony was lying flat again. He chose to lie there with his eyes closed while Bruce and Pepper fussed around him, taking away anything that may have been contaminated and moving his limbs in order to untangle the blankets around Tony until they were pulled up to his chest.

 

Pepper’s hand remained on Tony’s forehead as the darkness started encroaching again. He could hear the three talking above him but he was too tired to try to listen and he let himself drift off into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went a little overboard with this chapter if i'm honest. I could have written even more but decided to end it there.  
> The next chapter is when I am going to start diving more into the repercussions and all that. I'm really excited with all the thoughts that I have for the characters and the story on the whole. I really hope that I am able to translate them over to actually writing them down. 
> 
> As usual, I apologize if i go OOC with anyone. Some of these characters are difficult to write. 
> 
> Please comment and let me know what you think. I am doing my best to plug any plot holes i think of, but there is always the chance that I miss one. :)


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to everyone new! There are so many of you subscribed to this and that is so crazy!
> 
> So I wrote this chapter 4 times before finally deciding that i liked it enough to post it. I do feel like it drags a little bit, but there is so much that I want to put in each chapter.  
> This chapter initially didn't have the Ned part. I meant for that to be next chapter, but in the next chapter, there will be a time jump so it wouldn't work. And when I say a time jump, I mean like 2-3 weeks so nothing serious. I will have time jumps in the story because I can't write enough for an entire 5 years but the longest one I currently have is 8 months (hi Morgan).  
> I am currently up to 17 chapters and I am about 2.5 years into the 5 years, because I am writing the entire 5 years, but there might be a substantial jump somewhere in there to get me closer to those 5 years. I don't have these chapters written, I just have ideas for all of them.  
> Anyways, i'll stop rambling now and let you all read.
> 
> Disclaimer: As always, nothing Marvel is mine.

“So all of these people are gone?” Tony asked, properly looking at the screens in front of him. He was still lying in a bed in the Medbay with an IV in his arm but he could see the screens that were listing the people who had vanished as a result of the snap. He had seen Wanda, Bucky and Sam previously but looking at the rapidly switching screens he saw TChalla, Shuri and May Parker all pass by among other faces. The screen halted on May Parker’s smiling face and Tony had to take a deep breath before he spoke again.

“Fri, how’s the kid?”

“Peter is currently resting in his room Boss.” FRIDAY replied. Tony sighed at FRIDAY’s response. Peter had been in his room for a solid 24 hours and Tony wanted to see him but he was too weak to get out of the bed again, and he knew Peter was also extremely weak. Pepper had been giving him updates on Peter but it still wasn’t the same. He had nearly lost the kid on Titan and he could hardly take a breath each time he thought about that.

He felt his breath catch at that moment as his brain reminded him of that fact, proving to himself that he couldn’t think about it. The image of Peter falling to the ground raced through his mind and another breath caught in his chest. Tony closed his eyes as he put his hand to his chest, trying to stop the hand from shaking.

“Tony.”  Rhodey’s voice said and Tony opened his eyes again to see the man standing there, looking anxiously at him. Tony tried to take another breath, the breath stuttering in his chest.

“Tony, take a breath. He’s okay. You’re okay.” Tony nodded at Rhodey’s words, trying again to take another breath.

“Can we put them in the same room?” Natasha asked from the other side of the room. Tony looked at her to see that she looked concerned.

“Tony, we can move you upstairs to Peter’s room, do you want that?” Bruce asked and Tony nodded. Peter’s room was big enough for Peter’s bed and his bed. “You need to get your breathing under control before we do that.”

“FRIDAY, let Pepper and Carol know we are coming up there with Tony.” Steve called out to the ceiling. FRIDAY responded with an affirmative and Tony worked on listening to Rhodey who was trying to get him to take deep breaths. It took a few moments before he was able to get deep breaths back into his lungs and Bruce agreed to move him.

Tony paid no mind to anyone else who was in the room besides Rhodey and Bruce. He was able to be in the same room as them, but there was a long way to go before he felt like he could even start trusting most of them again, mainly Steve and Natasha.

The ride up to Peter’s room took far too long by Tony’s standards but Rhodey and Bruce kept him distracted to ensure that his breathing stayed normal. Natasha came up with them while everyone else stayed in the Common Room attached to the Medbay.

“You’re good Tony. You’re fine.” Rhodey reassured Tony as the elevator headed up the few floors to where Peter’s room was in the Compound. When they exited the elevator, Bruce and Rhodey pushed Tony’s bed towards the room. They passed by Vision’s room and the two men faltered slightly, causing Tony to look at them. He had assumed that since Thanos had snapped, he had the stone that had been in Vision’s head but that hadn’t been confirmed.

“He’s gone?” Tony asked and the two men and Natasha all nodded.

“Shuri tried to get the stone out of his head, but it was too late. Wanda destroyed the stone before Thanos could get it, but he had the time stone and turned time back to get the stone and killed Vision.” Rhodey was the one to respond.

“No one else helped?” Tony asked. The confirmation that Vision was gone sent a pain through Tony’s chest. Losing Vision meant that Tony had lost JARVIS for good. He was used to FRIDAY now but the pain still ran through his chest.

“Thanos had taken everyone else down.” Rhodey responded to Tony’s question. Tony took a look at his face, and the man looked guilt-stricken. “I couldn’t get there in time, but Wanda tried to keep Thanos away. I’ve never seen her use power like that before. I couldn’t get to her.”

“That wasn’t your fault Rhodey. We all tried and Thanos was just too strong.” Bruce replied.

“Hi Tony.” Pepper walked out of Peter’s room to the group and she leaned down to give Tony a kiss on his cheek.

“Hey Pep. How’s Pete?” Tony asked.

“He’s-“ Pepper hesitated and Tony’s heart clenched again.

“Pep?”

“He’s missing May Tony. It might help you to go in there.” Pepper said softly.

Upon hearing Pepper’s words, Tony motioned for the men to push him into the room quickly. They complied and the bed entered Peter’s room. Tony’s heart lurched when he saw the teenager in question lying on his bed, facing away from them, his body shaking. Carol had her hand on his back and was talking softly to him. She looked up when she saw the men and Pepper enter the room, and then turned back to Peter.

“Peter, Tony is here.”

Carol’s words struck a chord in Peter, and Tony watched the teenager slowly turn over so he was facing Tony.

“Oh kid.” Tony said softly upon seeing Peter’s face. He was pale, his face still far too thin, and his eyes were red rimmed.

“Tony.” Peter whispered as he reached a thin arm out to Tony. Tony immediately sat himself up to try to get out of the bed he was lying in, but his head spun from the sudden change in position, and he fell back towards the pillow he had been lying on.

“Tony.” Rhodey said trying to keep Tony lying down on the bed.

“Tony.” Peter whispered again and Tony pushed Rhodey’s hand aside as he attempted to sit back up, attempting to rip the IV out of his arm.

“Okay, okay.” Bruce relented and as Tony swung his legs around to sit up properly, he and Rhodey both grabbed his arms to help him out of the bed, making sure the IV stayed in Tony’s arm. Carol moved out of the way as he stumbled over to the bed and lay down next to Peter, who immediately latched onto his arm, wrapping both his arms around it, as he buried his head in Tony’s shoulder. Tony put his other arm around Peter’s back, cringing as he felt how thin the teenager still was. The walk over to the bed had Tony shaking slightly with exhaustion, his muscles not happy with the movement.

“Pete.” Tony said softly and Peter burst into tears. Tony could feel his shoulder getting wet where Peter had his head buried.

“Tony.” Peter whispered as he grabbed onto Tony’s arm tighter, the sobs still coming out of his mouth. On any other occasion, Peter’s grip would have hurt Tony, but the teenager was so weak that it felt like a normal person’s grip.

“Hey kid, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Tony whispered back, rubbing his hand up and down the teenagers back.

“Please don’t go Tony. Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me.” Peter whispered in between sobs. Tony looked up to see only Pepper and Carol still in the room, both of them looking at the duo on the bed. Pepper had tears running down her cheeks, and even Carol looked more emotional than Tony had seen her looking in the past few days.

“I’m not leaving you kid. I’m staying right here. It’s okay.” Tony reassured Peter. The wetness on his shoulder was spreading as Peter sobbed even harder. “Kid, it’s okay. I’m here.”

“Don’t ever leave me, please, Tony. Don’t ever leave me.”

Tony heard Pepper gasp at Peter’s words and Tony looked at her as the full meaning of the words impacted him. Peter wasn’t just asking for Tony to stay there at that exact moment, he was asking Tony to stay in his life for much longer than that.  

“Pete, I’m staying. I’m not leaving you.”

“Everyone leaves me, no one stays forever. Please don’t leave me. I can’t handle it. I can’t.”

Carol turned and walked out of the room and Tony and Pepper just stared at each other as Peter continued to cry on Tony’s shoulder.

“Oh honey.” Pepper said softly as she walked over to the bed, maneuvering around the bed that Tony had been lying in, and sat down on the edge of the bed. She reached her arm over to touch Peter’s back, and started rubbing her hand up and down in a soothing motion.

Peter lifted his head up from Tony’s shoulder to look at Pepper, tears streaking down his cheeks. Tony sighed as he saw the teenagers face, he looked completely wrecked and beyond devastated.

“Hi honey.” Pepper said softly as she reached her other hand to brush Peter’s face. The teenager closed his eyes and leaned in to Pepper’s hand. She adjusted her hand so it was cupped fully around Peter’s cheek. He sagged into it, keeping his eyes closed as more tears escaped from beneath his eyelids.

“Pete, lie back down kid.” Tony said as he gently tugged the kids’ head back down to his shoulder. Peter went willingly with his touch and he tucked his head back into Tony’s neck.

Tony and Pepper both stayed on the bed, completely silent as they looked at one another. Tony was occupied with his thoughts of May, and what he was going to do about it. Seeing how devastated Peter was only increased the guilt that Tony had been feeling about not being able to stop Thanos, and the guilt he felt about Stephen giving up the stone for him. He knew there had to have been a significant reason but now the man was also dead, and there was no change for Tony to question him.

As he thought, he felt Peter growing heavier against him, his breaths against Tony’s neck getting deeper as the tears tapered off, and the grip the teenager had around his arm started to grow looser. A few moments later, Tony could tell that Peter was asleep, his arms lying limply on Tony’s arm. He reached over his free arm to adjust Peter’s head so that the teenager’s face was pointed upwards away from his neck, and he could see it easier. Peter’s eyes were fully closed, his mouth slightly parted as he slept, tear stains down his pale cheeks.

“Oh sweet boy.” Pepper said softly as she swept her hands across Peter’s face, wiping away the tear stains. Peter didn’t even stir as she did so, sleeping on.

“Pepper, I failed.” Tony whispered to her and she glanced up at him.

“What?”

“I failed him. I couldn’t stop Thanos, and now May is gone and his friends.” Tony said. The guilt had been steadily increasing inside of him as he voiced it to the one person he trusted the most in the world.

“You are not at fault here Tony. There were plenty of other Avengers who could have stopped him, and none of them could either. You had Peter to protect and you succeeded.” Pepper replied.

“And look how I did at that? He came back to Earth but he lost everyone he cares about because of Thanos.” Tony replied, his voice increasing as he tried to get Pepper to understand. The loudness of his voice caused Peter to stir slightly, his face scrunching up before he settled again.

“Tony, listen to me. He didn’t lose everyone he cares about. He didn’t lose you. And he didn’t lose his best friend.” Pepper said and Tony looked from where he was shushing Peter.

“What?”

“His friend, Ned, he survived. He and his dad weren’t on the dusted lists. The kid reached out to Happy a few weeks ago, when we didn’t know about you or Peter.” Pepper explained. “I let him know yesterday that Peter is here. We can bring him here, it might help Peter.”

“What about his other friend? The girl?” Tony asked. “Did she survive?”

“No. She’s on the dusted list.” Pepper shook her head, looking sad as she replied. Tony realized that he didn’t know anything about what Pepper had been doing in the three weeks they were gone, including figuring out who had been dusted.

“Who started the dusted list? What happened while we were gone?”

“The government started the list. The president survived, and some of the other government personnel and about a week after the snap, they started a list. If someone survived, they submitted their name and who they knew who didn’t survive and after that happened, the list of the dusted came out. You and Peter were on that list, but Rhodey told them yesterday to change that.” Pepper explained. “We’ve been in contact with the government a lot- Rhodey has been doing a lot the past few weeks to try to keep things together.”

“What has SI been doing? Have we been assisting?” Tony asked.

“We’ve been assisting with the orphaned children. I opened some shelters in the city, and hired people to take care of them, Natasha has been with me assisting with them. There are other shelters for anyone who needs help there, and we are working on opening more in other cities across the country. I’ve been working with the banks to access the accounts to fund these. I’ve also been working with our remaining board members to sort out what projects need to continue and what we can put a hold on for now. We’re working on figuring out what departments have employees, and who needs assistance. We definitely lost at least 35% of the workforce.” Pepper explained as Tony just stared at her, completely in awe of his fiancé.

“What?” Pepper asked.

“You’re amazing. You did all of that?” Tony asked her, and there was a pause before Pepper responded.

“Tony, I thought you were gone, and all I could tell myself was to do anything I could to make you proud, and help as many people as I could because it was what you would have done.” A sob erupted from Pepper’s mouth and she hurriedly tried to silence it by covering her mouth with her hand.

“Hey.” Tony reached out his free arm to grab Pepper’s free hand and she clutched back.

“You were gone for 3 weeks Tony, and I couldn’t handle it. I don’t know how I survived when you were in Afghanistan for 3 months. Rhodey and Happy were here, but I didn’t know how I was going to continue, and then you came back, and you brought that sweet child back with you, and everything seemed okay again. And I feel terrible for thinking that because so many people weren’t so lucky. So many people lost everyone. And I feel so guilty for feeling so happy.” Pepper took her hand from her mouth as she talked to wipe her eyes free of the tears forming there.

“I feel so guilty when you point out people like Peter who lost their families. Peter will be taken care of, he has us and you won’t let anything happen to him, but there are so many children in these shelters who have no one and nothing. We don’t even know how many children were lost before we were able to send people to check.” Pepper stifled another sob as she clenched Tony’s hand even harder.

“We’ll figure it out Pep. I’ll figure something out to fix this.” Tony said, feeling like he was trying to convince himself more than Pepper.

“I don’t know if you can this time Tony. I don’t know what can be done to fix this.” Pepper confessed. Tony had no response to that, so he simply held Pepper’s hand tighter while staring at the teenager sleeping on his shoulder.

“I should tell Bruce your IV is running low.” Pepper said after a few moments of silence, and Tony looked over to see the bag draining into his arm was indeed getting low. He looked over to see that Peter’s was also on the low side. While Tony had tried to take food, Peter hadn’t even attempted, refusing anything solid.

“FRIDAY, can you inform Bruce?” Pepper called up to the ceiling.

“Inform him I want to try broth again.” Tony called out quickly.

“Dr Banner is on his way with IV’s. Captain Rogers will bring some broth at a later time.” FRIDAY replied a few moments later.

Pepper’s cellphone ring suddenly pierced through the air, and she quickly pulled her hand away from Tony’s to reach into her pocket. She picked it up as Tony glanced down to Peter to ensure he stayed asleep. There was absolutely no response from the teenager as Pepper talked quietly into the phone.

It took Tony a few moments to realize it was Happy she was talking to and he motioned for her to bring the phone to him. She handed the phone over to him, and Tony took it in his hand, gripping it as tightly as his weakened muscles would allow.

“Happy.” He greeted, and there was a heavy breath on the other end.

“Boss, it is good to hear your voice. How are you? How’s the kid?” Happy’s voice came back.

“He’s good. I’m good. We’re all good. Glad to be back.” Tony replied, deciding Happy didn’t need to hear everything over the phone.

“Listen, in relation to the kid, his friend called me. Pepper told him Peter’s alive, and he desperately wants to see him. I was going to come to the Compound tonight, but can I bring the kid to stay the night?”

“What about his dad? Pepper said he survived too.” Tony asked.

“He did. He wants Ned to get away from the city. It’s a mess here Tony.” Happy responded.

“Bring him. Pete’s not doing so well and I am sure a visit from his best friend will help.” Ton replied. He stared at the kid as he spoke to Happy, hope inside him that seeing Ned might help Peter at least a small amount. He realized that Peter didn’t even know that Ned had survived.  

“I’ll be there in a few hours. See you then boss.” Happy hung up the phone and Tony handed it back to Pepper, his arms shaking from the short time of holding it up. He let it flop back down to the bed as Bruce walked into the room, his arms full with IV bags.

He set them down on Tony’s empty bed as he looked at Tony and Peter.

“How long has he been asleep?”

“Only about 15 minutes.” Pepper replied.

“Okay. He’s going to have to get out of this bed at some point today. I need him to walk around and stretch his muscles a bit.” Bruce said. “You too Tony.”

“His friend is coming tonight. We’ll get him out then.”

\--

  “Hey Pete.” A voice broke into Peter’s consciousness as a hand shook him gently. He grumbled as he tried to move his head away, further pushing it into the soft thing he was lying on. He soon realized it was a person as he was joggled when said person laughed slightly. His arm moved and he felt a pull on his wrist, recognizing that there was still an IV in his hand.

“Kid, can you wake up?” The same voice asked and Peter groaned. His head pounded, and his eyes were aching and itchy, and he wanted to go back into the darkness where nothing hurt. The hand shook him again and he conceded that he was going to have to open his eyes.

With a groan, he forced them open, blinking a few times to clear them out. He saw Pepper leaning over him with a cloth in her hands, which she extended towards Peter.

“This’ll help with the soreness of your eyes. It’s cool.” Pepper explained and Peter nodded as he took the cloth to drape over his eyes. There was instant relief as the cold hit his sore eyes and he sighed happily.

“Hey Pete?” Tony’s voice came from Peter’s other side and although his eyes were covered with the cloth, he turned his head towards where he thought Tony was.

“We wanted to let you know that your friend Ned is on his way here.”

Peter ripped the cloth from his eyes upon hearing Tony’s statement, and he stared at the man for a few moments before he was able to talk.

“He’s alive? He survived?” Peter could hardly believe it and Tony nodded.

“He did. He’s been talking to Happy and Happy is bringing him here tonight. They should be here soon.”

Tears sprung to Peter’s already sore eyes, and they burned as he tried to wipe them away hurriedly, dropping the cloth onto the bed. Pepper reached over to help wipe his face and the action reminded Peter of May, which caused more tears to spring to Peter’s eyes.

“Oh honey.” Pepper said softly. Peter tried to wipe away the tears but some escaped and rolled down his cheeks.

“Boss, Bruce requested that when you and Peter were awake, that you both get out of the bed and take a walk. He and Thor are on their way right now.” FRIDAY’s voice called out and Tony sighed next to Peter.

“This’ll be fun.” Tony muttered under his breath as he moved away from Peter. A few moments later, Thor and Bruce both walked into the room, heading over to where Peter was.

“Hi Peter. How are you feeling?” Bruce asked him as he started messing with the IV in Peter’s hand.

“I’m tired.” Peter replied. He was still beyond tired, and Bruce nodded at the statement.

“That’s understandable. You’re still very malnourished but we’re working on that. Can you let Thor help you out of bed? I want you and Tony to move around. We can have your friend meet you in the living area.”

Peter nodded as Thor came over to help him. He lifted one of his arms up and Thor gently put it around his shoulders as he lifted Peter clear off the bed. Peter gasped as the movement made his head pound and Thor immediately started apologizing and paused in his motions. After a few seconds of pain, Peter motioned to Thor to continue and soon his feet were on the floor, his arm still around Thor’s shoulders. He could see Pepper and Bruce pulling Tony off the bed as he worked to get his feet under him.

Peter found himself leaning heavily into Thor as he walked carefully across the room to the door that would lead to the living area. The god was patient with him as he tried to keep his legs under him, the muscles angry at being used after so much disuse. Peter could hear Tony swearing behind him as they headed out to the common area.

Thor deposited Peter onto a couch as soon as they reached it and Peter sighed in relief at the soft cushions before pulling his legs up beneath him, trying to soothe his muscles.

“Happy Hogan and Ned Leeds have entered the building. They are on their way up.” FRIDAY called out and Peter gasped. Thor heard his gasp and reached over to pat him on the shoulder.

“Peter, we’ll leave you alone for a while. We’re taking Tony to his room. Leave the IV in, and I’ll come check on it in a while.” Bruce instructed as he and Pepper passed by with Tony, who smiled at Peter. Peter nodded and Thor got up to leave with the group. They left the room and Peter alone, but the elevator opened up almost instantly and Happy and Ned piled out of it, the other teenager holding a backpack that Peter recognized as his own.

Ned called out as he saw Peter, dropping the backpack and nearly breaking into a run until he reached the couch and he threw his arms around Peter. Peter reciprocated and he squeezed as tightly as he could, the tears coming out of his eyes again as he acknowledged that his best friend was there, alive and whole.

“Kid.” Peter looked up to see Happy standing there, a strange expression on his face. He put a hand on Peter’s shoulder briefly as he looked him up and down and then he stepped away. “It’s good to see you.”

Peter nodded back as Happy turned back to the elevator.

“I thought you were gone Peter. Until Ms Potts called me and told me that you and Iron Man came back.” Ned pulled back from Peter who also relinquished his grip so Ned could sit down next to him on the couch.

“It’s been crazy man. So many people disappeared, and my mom disappeared in front of me. And you were gone, and MJ is gone-“

“MJ is gone?” Peter’s heart sank as he processed Ned’s words.

“Yeah. She and Flash were both dusted, and so were most of the Decathlon team except for Abraham and Mr Harrison and school has-.” Ned replied. Another sob burst out of Peter and Ned stopped his talking to throw his arms around Peter again.

“MJ and your mom-“ Peter choked out. He was incredibly happy to have his best friend but hearing that MJ and Mrs Leeds were both gone, as well as most of the Decathlon team were gone ripped a new hole in Peter’s chest, joining the May sized hole that was already there.

“I know man. I know.” Ned said in response. “But you came back right? They could come back?”

“Ned, they aren’t coming back. They’re gone.” Peter didn’t mean for his voice to come out so harsh but he still felt Ned flinch against him as he spoke and he instantly felt guilty.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He apologized quickly and Ned shook his head.

“Really, I know they are, but it just doesn’t seem real-“ Ned stopped as he clutched Peter tighter. The two of them just stayed there, hanging on to one another as they both worked to process the grief they were both experiencing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you can see, I didn't make Ned disappear but I did take MJ and Flash away, as well as quite a few other small characters that are in Peter's life- awful I know. I figured taking more people away from Peter will make him more upset which will increase Tony's motivation to get them all back for Peter, even though that's a bit of a ways away.
> 
> Also, writing Pepper is hard, even though she is one of my favorite characters. I am writing her very nurturing and soft and I know that might be OOC, but that's where i'm going with this. Peter needs someone like her after losing May. 
> 
> Please let me know how you felt about this chapter. :) I am trying to make sure that I mention things that weren't mentioned in the movie at all- ie the shelters, government, banks etc. I won't go much more into the government but some of these other issues, and more, will certainly be mentioned again.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly still can't get over how positive of a response I have had to this! You are all great!
> 
> Just a quick note- I have seen some other writers being given grief for having Morgan in their fix-its, so I just want to say that I will have Morgan in mine. I won't get into it too much here, but she will be in this although it is mostly focused on the adults of Ironfam and Peter. 
> 
> Also, if there is any time jump in a chapter, it'll be right at the top of the chapter like it is here.
> 
> Disclaimer: As per usual, i own nothing Marvel.

**May 2018 (6 weeks after snap)-**

 

The stars twinkled overhead as Peter sat on the roof of the compound, sitting on one of the deck chairs that were set out there. Tony had put the chairs there one night after a whole group of them had found themselves sitting on the cold ground.

He knew it was still the middle of the night and eventually FRIDAY would inform someone that he was out there but that didn’t matter at that moment. Peter had spent many hours over the past weeks staring at the sky after he had finally been cleared to move about without assistance.

Peter knew everyone was worried about him, but he had done a lot of avoiding people, including Tony. He had withdrawn after Ben had died but that had only been from May and Ned, and now he had a lot more people to avoid. Ignoring Ned’s numerous messages now that the cellphone towers were working again was easy but avoiding Tony, Pepper and the Avengers at the Compound had not been so easy.

It had been 6 weeks since the snap, 3 weeks since Peter had found out that MJ and May were gone, and it felt like it had both flown by and trudged by like molasses. Peter had hardly slept due to the nightmares, nightmares he had both had and knew he would have if he actually tried to sleep properly. He was feeling the lack of sleep each time he blinked, dragging his eyelids back open each time.

Peter stared at the sky as he thought about Titan, the Avengers and Strange disappearing. He still didn’t understand why Strange had done what he had done, and he had to accept that he never would. He knew he had to accept that what was done was done, but that didn’t mean he ever wanted to, and he knew he had a long time before he reached that point.

A door opened behind him and Peter knew his silent sitting had come to an end.

“Pete.” Tony called out. Peter didn’t turn around, just kept staring at the sky. Tony shut the door behind him and walked to the teenager.

He sat down in a chair next to Peter and wrapped the blanket he had brought with him around the teenagers’ shoulders. Peter didn’t say anything, just held the blanket close over his t-shirt.

“What are you thinking about?” Tony asked.

“Did FRIDAY tell you I was out here?” Peter avoided Tony’s question, the man noticing the avoidance right away.

“She did. She also told me every night you’ve been out here.” Tony replied. He looked at Peter who kept looking up, avoiding his gaze.

“Why did you come out tonight if you’ve known I’ve been out here every night?” Peter asked.

“Because Pepper told me and I don’t disagree with her.” Tony joked, sighing when Peter didn’t even respond. Friday had informed Tony that Peter was on the roof and Pepper had woken up too and physically pushed Tony out of the bed when he had been debating about going to him.

“Actually, I came out here because I’m worried about this kid. He’s not sleeping, he’s hiding away from everyone, and he won’t answer his best friends’ texts.”

“How do you know that?” Peter finally turned to look at Tony, surprise written all over his face.

“Ned texts me. When you don’t respond, he texts me and that’s been a lot lately. He’s worried about you.”

Tony went to put his hand on Peter’s arm and the teenager flinched away, looking back up at the sky. Tony let his hand fall back into his lap before he spoke again, well aware that his next topic was sensitive.

“Pete, Ned told me how you withdrew after you lost Ben, how it took months for you to start letting him in again. Please let us in. If not me, please let him in. Don’t shut yourself off from the people who care for you.”

Peter didn’t reply, just went back to staring at the sky while Tony watched him. Tony resigned himself to staying out there until Peter fell asleep and he could call a suit. He didn’t imagine it would be long, he could see how long Peter’s blinks were.

“I don’t deserve it.” Peter said softly, after a long stretch of silence.

“What?!” Tony didn’t mean to snap but it came out harsher than he intended and Peter flinched. Tony wanted to touch the teenager but held his hands back, for fear Peter would flinch away again. “I’m sorry kid, but what did you say?”

A tear streaked down Peter’s face.

“I don’t deserve it.” Peter repeated.

“Deserve what?” Tony questioned.

“Ned. You. Pepper. Happy. The Avengers. Kindness.” Peter listed off.

“Peter, why do you think you don’t deserve us, or kindness?”

“I’m a curse.” Peter said and Tony’s heart physically hurt in his chest.

“No you aren’t.”

“Yes I am. Anyone who loves me dies. My parents, Uncle Ben, May, MJ.” Another tear went down Peter’s cheek. “You should all leave me before my curse hits. Let me leave. Forget about me. Ned shouldn’t even be paying me any attention, he lost his mom. He shouldn’t be worrying about me.”

“Kid, can you please look at me?” Tony asked softly, hoping to get the teenager to look at him.

“No.”

“Okay.” Tony sighed again. “Are you listening to me?”

Peter nodded as another tear went down his cheek.

“You are not a curse Peter Parker. You are a kid who has had a lot of unfair shit thrown at him in life. A lot more than most people have ever even had to imagine. But none of that is your fault. Your parents’ accident, Ben’s accident, May and MJ being snapped- none of that is on you. It’s not fair that you have dealt with so much loss, but no one here thinks for a second that you are a curse. Ned thinks you are actually the best thing since sliced bread, Pep adores you kid, Rhodey thinks you’re the best kid he’s ever met, Happy loves you in his own way, and I-“ Tony stopped for a moment, to try to gather his thoughts.

“I love you kid, and I couldn’t imagine you not being in my life. I’m not letting you go anytime soon.” Tony stumbled over his words a little, more emotional than he liked to be, but it was worth it to see the look on Peter’s face, as he finally looked at Tony.

“You love me?”

“Very much so.” Tears started to flow down Peter’s face in earnest now and Tony reached for this shoulder again.

Peter didn’t flinch this time and Tony put his whole arm around him, and shifted so they were sitting next to each other. Peter lay his head on Tony’s shoulder, and when Tony looked down, he could see Peter fighting his closing eyes, yanking them up each time.

“Hey, it’s okay. Stop fighting the sleep.” Tony murmured.

“Nightmares.” Peter whispered and Tony sighed. He could sympathize with that, but he knew Peter needed sleep.

“I’ll be right here Pete. I’ll wake you up if I need to. It’s okay.” Tony whispered and watched as Peter’s eyes slowly closed. It only took a few moments before he felt Peter slump against him, fast asleep.

Tony waited a few more moments to ensure that Peter stayed asleep before he started the process of getting up without waking him. He had only managed to move Peter’s head when the door opened and Rhodey walked out.

“Hey Tones.” Rhodey greeted quietly as he noticed the teenager sleeping, wrapped up in the blanket. Tony settled back down onto the chair he was on, adjusting Peter so his head was on Tony’s legs.

“What are you doing awake?” Tony asked as he watched his best friend sit down in a chair.

“Couldn’t sleep. Seems to be a trend. I have to be up in a few hours anyway. FRIDAY told me you were out here, didn’t mention Peter though. He okay?” Rhodey asked and both men looked down at the sleeping teenager.

“Not so great. He’s shutting himself off, doesn’t think he deserves anyone caring for him.” Tony replied sadly.

“Kids’ lost a lot. Reminds me of someone else I know.” Rhodey commented, staring directly at Tony.

“This kid is way better than me Rhodey. He’s going to change the world, and I almost lost him.”

“What happened up there Tony? What really happened?” Rhodey questioned.

“God, we were so close Rhodey. So close to getting that Gauntlet from Thanos and this idiot from Missouri who referred to himself as a Lord flipped when Thanos told him he killed his girlfriend, and we lost. Strange gave up the time stone, Thanos disappeared and then people started dissolving. I thought Peter was going to go, and somehow despite it all, he stayed. I should have been able stop Thanos- prevent this from happening.”

“We didn’t have a chance in Wakanda.” Rhodey started. “We had armies and most of the Avengers, a talking tree, a raccoon and we still lost. He took down all of us.  You had you, Pete, this Strange guy, Nebula and the people she references as the Guardians. The odds were against you Tony, but you came home and I am so damn glad you did. And that Peter came home with you. That kid means a lot to so many people.”

“But I couldn’t save his aunt, or his friends.”

“Hey.” Rhodey reached out to put a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “This isn’t on you. You had very little support up there and you had a kid to protect and bring home.”

“That’s what Pepper said.”

“Your fiance is a very wise woman.” Rhodey smirked. “Speaking of fiance, Happy was talking about dates the other night, as in dates you are planning for the wedding.”

Tony shook his head.

“Not for the immediate future. There’s a lot to take care of right now. Pepper and I need to have a meeting with our remaining board holders. She’s held them off while I was recovering but they’re anxious.”

“I never thought i’d see the day.”

“What?”

“The day Tony Stark willingly goes to a board meeting.”

“It’s a new world we’re living in. I can’t let Pepper do it all alone.”

Rhodey hummed his agreement as he pulled his hand away from Tony’s shoulder. Both men looked to the sky, looking at the stars and seeing that the sky was starting to lighten in the distance, bringing with it a new day.

“You know, when we killed Thanos, before Thor beheaded him, he seemed like he wasn’t afraid to die. He got off way too easy for what he did.” Rhodey commented. “I know why Thor did it, he feels like he messed up the first time, but it was too painless of an ending for him. He didn’t suffer like we have all suffered, some more than most.”

Tony hummed his agreement this time, still looking at the stars. He and Peter had been learning the constellations together for fun before the entire incident and Tony could pick out some of them as he stared up. He’d have to suggest to Peter that they do that again sometime soon. He had gotten the teenager a telescope as a gift a week or so before Titan, and it was currently in his lab waiting to be presented.

“Tony.” Rhodey said more seriously and Tony turned to look at him. “I know you feel like you failed, but those weeks without you were torture buddy. Pepper was devastated, Happy just threw himself into working, and the other Avengers all didn’t seem to know what to do. Even Steve said it wasn’t right without you here.”

Tony scoffed at Rhodey’s last statement. Tony had seen Steve around the compound along with Natasha but he has been avoiding them as much as possible. After his outburst in the Medbay, he didn’t want to talk to the soldier.

“I’m not joking. It was only after you came back that we even attempted something. You are going to have to talk to him at some point. Natasha too.” Rhodey said.

“Not if I can keep avoiding them.” Tony replied.

“Tony.”

“What, Rhodey?” Tony shot back. “Steve is the reason the Avengers split. His decision led to your accident, and Natasha splitting sides in the middle didn’t exactly help morale.”

Peter shifted slightly under Tony’s anger and he quickly placed his hand on Peter’s face so the teenager would calm down.

“Tony, don’t you think I wish that I still had proper use of my legs? The skeleton you built me is incredible but not my actual legs. But as you said, this is a new world. Ross is gone, half the Accords committee is gone. Countries borders are shut while people try to figure things out. People are still dying out on the streets despite people’s best efforts. As much as you don’t want to think so, when you and Steve work together, you’re unstoppable. That’s something the world needs right now.”

 

Tony didn’t respond to that, choosing to stare at Peter instead.

“Tony, something else that needs attention paid to.” Rhodey spoke up again, and Tony pulled his gaze from Peter’s slack face.

“Thor.”

“What about Thor?”

“He’s not doing well Tony. He’s blaming himself for not killing Thanos when he had the chance in Wakanda. He lost the majority of his people in Asgard, then lost another half of them in the snap, and he lost Loki. We all know that Loki was completely crazy but he was Thor’s brother. He killed Thanos when we went for him, but it didn’t change anything.”

“Where are his people now?” Tony questioned.

“They’re in the guest part of the Compound. There’s only maybe 100 of them including a guy who is made of rocks. The rest are gone. Anyone who was on the ship that Thanos attacked is gone, but Thor said they had a different ship that others were on, and they lost about half of them.” Rhodey explained and Tony realized that he hadn’t stepped foot in the guest area of the Compound since he had gotten back, he would have to remedy that as soon as he could.

“Are they planning on staying here? I should probably know these things about my Compound.” Tony asked.

“Pepper has been working to try to get them relocated, but it’s been tough with the closed borders. Norway is looking like it might be an option. We’re looking at Wakanda too but with TChalla and Shuri gone, it’s a mess. The queen and Okoye are doing their best. Brunhilde has been working with Pepper.”

“Who is Brunhilde?” Tony asked, not recognizing the name at all.

“She is intense. She’s a Valkyrie from Asgard. I think Peter would enjoy meeting her.”

The teenager lying on Tony stirred slightly as if he knew he was being talked about. Rhodey and Tony ceased talking as Peter shifted his head, tensed up and and opened his eyes slowly.

“Hey kid.” Tony said softly. Peter just stared up at him, blinking slowly.

“You okay Peter?” Rhodey called out. Peter just continued to stare up at Tony until his eyes closed and Tony felt his muscles relax as he fell back asleep.

“What was that?” Rhodey asked.

“He’s exhausted. Needs more sleep. He’s fine.” Tony explained as he put his fingers on Peter’s wrist to double check the kids’ pulse. It was slow with sleep but steady. So much steadier than it had been the last time Tony had put his hands on the teenagers’ wrist.

Tony’s phone chirped in his pocket and he pulled it out quickly with the hand not on Peter’s face. He was surprised when he saw that it was already 5 in the morning, he had joined Peter at 3 and it didn’t seem like 2 hours had passed at all.

The message was from Pepper asking him to come back inside. He relayed this to Rhodey who questioned why Pepper had had to text him.

“I shut FRI off out here when i came out to talk to Pete.”  Tony replied. He knew he was going to have to pick Peter up if he wanted to get him inside without waking him up but he wasn’t entirely sure how to do that without calling a suit which wouldn’t work with their current position.

Rhodey realized his predicament and stood up, walking until he was in in front of him. With Tony’s assistance, Peter was soon lying in Rhodey’s arms, blanket still wrapped securely around him, still fast asleep.

Tony stood up, shaking his arms a little before heading to the door with Rhodey.

The two men walked inside to see Pepper standing there, already dressed in professional work clothes and typing at a tablet. Her eyes softened when she saw Peter in Rhodey’s arms and she set the tablet down to reach out a hand to softly ruffle Peter’s hair.

“He looks so tired.” She commented.

“Didn’t want to sleep because of nightmares.” Tony replied.

“‘Not to be rude but he is kind of heavy.” Rhodey interjected and Pepper pointed to the nearby couch.

“Put him there.” Rhodey nodded and carefully lay Peter down on said couch. Peter responded to the change by shifting slightly before turning his head towards the back of the couch.

“I have to head back to DC. There’s more meetings happening today.” Rhodey told Pepper and Tony, and Pepper frowned.

“FRIDAY told me you’ve been outside for a while. Did you even sleep?” She asked.

“I’m taking the suit. I’ll sleep on the way there. I’ll be back tomorrow. ” Rhodey replied as he waved goodbye to them both before heading back out onto the roof. Tony and Pepper watched the suit form around him and then he was gone.

“Coffee.” Tony mumbled, meaning to walk towards the kitchen area but Pepper pushed him towards the couch.

“Sit. No coffee for you.”

Tony gave her a look but she just pushed him more, so he gave up and sat down next to Peter. The couch was oversized with plenty of room to hold the sleeping teenager and the man. Pepper sat herself down on the chair next to the couch picking up her tablet as Tony played with his phone.

They sat in companionable silence for a while before Tony’s eyes started to drag down. He pulled them up each time, shaking his head as he did so. He heard Pepper laugh a few times but she never said anything.

Tony had dragged his eyes open a seventh time when she spoke.

“Tony, guardianship.”

“Hmmm?” Tony asked.

“Guardianship for Peter. People are starting to look into the orphans and seeing if there is anyone assigned to be their legal guardians.!Peter is on that list as an orphan, and we do need to submit the legal documents for him.” Pepper replied, and Tony forced himself to sit up straighter.

“Okay, do it. Did any of the lawyers survive?”

“Max and Thomas both did.” Pepper nodded.

“Put them both on it. We’ll pay them extra to be quick about it. I can’t imagine that Peter would be on the top of that list, but don’t take any chances.” Tony replied. “We can pay them extra right?”

“Yes Tony. Most of the banks have been able to get back into some form of working order so people can access money, that was one of the main priorities of the government when they got themselves organized again. I was supposed to have a meeting with Max today but i’ll invite Thomas too and we’ll make that first order of business.”

“Good idea.” Tony slumped back onto the couch, resting his head against the back. His hands fell into his lap and he let his phone rest there too. 

“You should get some rest.” Pepper commented and Tony shook his head.

“Need to be awake if Pete has nightmares.”

“I’ll be here. I’m not meeting with Max, and now probably Thomas, until 10, and they are coming here. If he needs you, i’ll wake you up.”

“Why are you awake so early then?” Tony asked. Pepper had kicked her shoes off when she had sat on the chair but she was still in a pencil skirt and blouse.

“Habit.” She replied. “Tony, close your eyes.”

Tony sighed but he did concede. He put a hand on Peter’s arm so he would feel when the teenager woke up and then relaxed into the back of the couch.

 

He was asleep within moments.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I started writing this outline for this story and was reading back through it thinking to myself, wait, I haven't mentioned that character in a while, where are they? 
> 
> Also, there are a number of characters who won't be so big in this- I know i've hardly mentioned Natasha and Steve. That's deliberate at the moment. This is really meant to just focus on Peter and Tony with other characters making appearances, with Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey having frequent appearances. 
> 
> I'm doing my best to cover any plotholes I thought existed while trying not to create any new ones- please let me know if there is anything I missed.  
> On a different note, this chapter was supposed to have other things happening but the outside part got so long that I had to push things back to the next chapter, which pushed things from that chapter to the next chapter and it's just been a spiral from there.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say that this story is kind of taking on a mind of it's own? Like I made the outline, typed it up and made it look clean and it's just gone completely ugly again because I keep adding things in, and then moving things to other chapters. There's one thing i have wanted to have happen in the last chapter and this chapter, and it still hasn't happened because I keep pushing it back!   
> Right now i'm outlined up to 19 Chapters which puts us in June 2021, which in my timeline that I have is 3 years and 3 months after the snap, so there's still quite a few more chapters that need to be outlined before we even get into actual Endgame territory and then the repercussions of the snap- remember that Tony doesn't die in this, at all. Ever. Not going to happen. or Peter.
> 
> Also, just suspend your disbelief just a little bit for the beginning of this chapter, and go with me in that Peter is so distressed that his sense isn't working properly. 
> 
> Disclaimer: As usual, nothing is mine.

_ Please. Please. Please. _

Peter was pleading, begging Tony not to leave him like The Guardians, begging him not to leave him like almost everyone else on Titan.

_ Please stay. Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me.  _

Tony just looked at Peter, the light in his eyes fading, as he fell to the ground, his legs disappearing. Peter threw himself at him, trying to hold onto him. He stumbled to behind the man’s head, putting an arm around Tony’s armor covered chest. A chest that was rapidly disappearing, his arms gone, his neck disappeared. Tony’s eyes dimmed fully and then he was gone and Peter’s arms fell to the ground. 

He was alone. Everyone was gone and Peter was alone on the orange planet. 

_ Please come back. Please. I can’t- I can’t. Please. _

Peter woke up screaming, tears running down his face, calling out for Tony. It was pitch black and he couldn’t figure out where he was. He knew he was lying on something soft and he pushed himself up. His head was pounding, his heart racing, gasps coming out of his mouth, and he couldn’t see or think straight, his normally great eyesight doing nothing to help in the pitch dark.

He pushed himself up on all fours, holding hand out as he tried to figure out where he was. He moved a few feet and smacked right into something hard first with his hand and then his face when he didn’t stop himself in time.

Cheek stinging, he pushed himself away from the offending object and tried to walk in the other direction, smacking right into a wall.

Completely disoriented and with tears streaming down his cheeks, Peter just sat down at the wall, resting his head against the hard surface. He didn’t even attempt to wipe at the thick tears pouring down, or try to calm his wild gasps.     


He had asked Tony to turn FRIDAY off in his room at night, and now he found himself wishing he hadn’t done that. He wanted Tony, and he had no way to call out for him. 

He didn’t know how long he sat there before his door opened and the lights turned on. The brightness made him wince and they shut back off, the light from the hallway the only light coming into the room.

“Pete?” Tony was next to him, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Peter moved his head away from the wall to look at the man looking at him with a concerned expression on his face.

He glanced past him to see that he was sitting next to his far wall, his bed clear across the room. There was a small dent in the wood legs of his desk, and he realized that was what he hit.

“Pete?” Tony asked again and Peter looked at him. Tony reached out to touch Peter’s cheek and Peter hissed when it was tender.

“What happened to your face? Why are you sitting against the wall?”

“Nightmare.” Peter replied. Now that he was less disoriented, his senses were starting to come back and he could see much clearer in the dimly lit room. His covers were thrown on the floor, a pillow halfway across the room.

“Can you tell me about it?” Tony asked. He was still in the clothes Peter had seen him in before he went to bed, a black t-shirt and sweatpants. It had been the first time Peter had ever seen him in sweatpants. 

“Titan. You disappeared. I was all alone.” Peter replied. The look on Tony’s face caused new tears to flow down Peter’s already sore face, stinging his cut cheek.

“Is everything okay?” Pepper appeared at the door and seeing Peter, her face softened and she walked over to them. She knelt down on Peter’s other side and he felt himself slumping into her. She was wearing a thicker sweater and it felt like the softest thing he had ever felt.

“What time is it? Why are you both up?” Peter asked.

“It’s 4:30 in the morning.” Tony replied.

“Did I wake you up? Oh god, I’m so sorry if I did! You can go back to bed, i’m fine!” Peter tried. 

“I was already awake, and he didn’t even go to bed.” Pepper explained and Peter turned to gape at Tony, who met his gaze steadily.

“You should go to bed! I told you i’m fine!”

“Not happening Pete. That was some pretty serious screaming I heard, so sorry, I don’t believe you’re fine.” Tony shook his head as he adjusted his position to sit fully against the wall. “Want to watch tv? FRIDAY?” 

There was no response from the AI.

“You shut her off after I asked you to.” Peter explained.

“Well, i’m turning her back on. She can help you immediately if this happens again and you won’t be so disoriented.” Tony pulled a phone from his pocket and immediately started fiddling with it as Peter watched from Pepper’s arms. 

“Boss.” FRIDAY called a few moments later. 

“Fri, turn Netflix on and play Star Wars. Whichever one.” 

“This can’t be comfortable!” Peter tried to protest and Tony stood up. He grabbed Peter’s comforter from the floor and threw it haphazardly over Peter and Pepper and then tossed a few pillows their way before grabbing a few of the extra blankets from Peter’s closet and another pillow.

“Can you sit up for a minute?” Pepper asked Peter who nodded and pushed out of her arms, taking the comforter with him. She took a blanket from Tony and laid it over herself before grabbing a pillow to put inbetween herself and the wall. She grabbed another pillow and put it on her lap before pulling at Peter’s arm. He went willingly until he was lying on the pillow in her lap, wrapped up in the comforter. Tony had settled himself on the wall with another blanket and a pillow behind his head. He reached a hand under the comforter to take a hold of Peter’s ankle.

“Fri?” 

“On it boss.” The Star Wars logo appeared on screen, and Peter settled in, the tears finally slowing. He closed his eyes and it wasn’t long before he was asleep.

When he woke up again, he wasn’t lying in Pepper’s lap. He was still on the floor with his head on a pillow and Tony was lying asleep next to him, but there was no Pepper. Peter touched his face, feeling that the cut had already healed. His eyes felt tired and sore from the crying, and he was feeling pretty terrible that he had woken both of the adults up. 

“Friday, what time is it?” He whispered up to the ceiling, loathe to wake Tony.

“It’s 10:30 in the morning.” Friday replied just as quietly and Peter nodded. He carefully extracted himself from the blankets and got up to leave the room. Tony didn’t stir as he opened his door, closing it behind him as he walked out.

“Hey kid.” Rhodes said from the couch as Peter headed into the common room. Happy and Bruce were sitting there as well, all looking at him.

“Hi.” Peter replied, surprised to see them all there and still no sign of Pepper.

“Pepper had some meetings this morning but she should be back in a few minutes actually. And she says to not even start to feel bad about having the nightmare.” Bruce smiled as Peter gaped at him, surprised that Pepper had known what would be running through his head.

“She knows you kid, as do we all. We all know you blame yourself for things you shouldn’t.” Happy spoke up.

“Not that it’s a competition but I think I know you the best.” Rhodey spoke up, ignoring Happy’s sputter of protest about driving the kid before Rhodey even knew of his existence.

“Why are you all here?” Peter sat down on the empty section of the couch, next to Rhodey. 

“That’s something I want to talk to you about actually.” Tony walked in to the room from Peter’s room, his hair lying funny from sleeping on a pillow on the floor. A fact that Rhodey commented on, earning a glare from Tony.

“What?” Peter asked, instantly suspicious.

Before anyone could respond, the elevator opened and Pepper walked out, followed by three men. She was dressed in a simple black sleeveless dress with black heels and her hair in a ponytail, a stark difference from when Peter had seen her in the night. She smiled when she saw Peter and Tony in the room.

“Max, Thomas- these are everyone I was telling you about. Everyone, these are those lawyers I was talking about and Mr Reyas from CPS.” 

Peter’s heart sank and he instantly started to feel sick. This was the moment that Pepper and Tony made him leave, his time with them over. 

Tony had been looking at him and instantly walked over to him, forcing himself down between Peter and Rhodey, forcing Rhodey to shift over.

“Your face just went white kid. It’s not what you think.”

“Oh no Peter.” Pepper hurried over to kneel in front of Peter, the lawyers . “We have the lawyers and a CPS representative here because we want to sign to be your guardians. If that’s okay with you.”

Peter stared at Pepper for a moment before turning his head to look at Tony. His brain didn’t seem to be functioning as he gaped at the man, causing Tony to frown.

“If it’s not what you want kid, i’m sure we can find some wonderful people to take care of you. Or the Leeds- Ned’s dad has expressed interest in taking care of you. It doesn’t have to be us-“

Peter shook his head, cutting Tony off.

“I want it to be you. You and Pepper. If I can’t have May.” 

Tony pulled Peter in a hug and murmured into his ear.

“Everyone wishes it wasn’t this way Pete, but it’s going to start getting easier and you have everyone here for you. Okay?” 

Peter nodded and Tony released him, then motioned to Happy, Bruce and Rhodey. “These three are also signing on as guardians. Not that anything is going to happen to Pepper or I, but this way you are 100% covered.” 

Peter’s heart lurched at Tony’s comment, but he nodded. “I don’t think anyone has ever had so many guardians before.” 

“Tony is your main one, but then i’m after him and the three others come after.” Pepper explained. She stood back up to walk back over to the table where various documents were spread out. 

“Yeah but who’s first? It better be me!”

“Why are you like this?” Tony sighed at Rhodey who shrugged. 

“Hi Peter, can you sign here?” Max knelt down next to Pepper holding out a document that had been signed by both Tony and Pepper. He took the pen from the lawyer, and signed his name quickly. Max took the document and pen back from him and walked back to the table.

“Congrats all. You are now all legal guardians of one Peter Parker.” 

“I’ll walk you all out.” Happy stood up from his chair to walk Max, Thomas and Reyas back to the elevator to get to their cars back to the city. “I’ll see you all downstairs. There’s a storm predicted to hit this afternoon, so don’t be long.”

“Is it usually that quick?” Rhodey asked.

“Tony and I signed most of the documents already and you all signed that document last night. It was mostly Peter that needed to sign in front of the CPS worker.” Pepper explained. 

Peter didn’t say anything as the adults spoke around him, trying to keep the tears at bay. He loved Tony and Pepper, and was beyond relieved that he wouldn’t end up somewhere with people he didn’t know, or in a home with other orphans, but he missed May. He missed her so deeply he could feel an ache deep in his chest, like there was a hole in his chest. He had felt like this when Ben died, but this ache was exponentially bigger.

He felt the tears prick in his eyes again, and he looked down at the ground to try to contain them. Pepper and Tony were across the room talking but Rhodey was still sitting on the couch next to him, and he put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. 

“Hey kid.” Rhodey said softly and Peter looked up, the tears trickling down his cheeks.

“Hey, I know this hurts like hell and it sucks but we are all beyond happy to have you in this family of ours. And I know you have Pepper, Tony and your friend Ned, but you can always come to me too okay? If there’s anything you don’t want to talk to Pepper or Tony about.”

Peter nodded and Rhodey squeezed his shoulder gently before he let go. Tony looked over at Peter from across the room, and frowned when he saw Peter wiping at his eyes. 

“Rhodey, did you make my kid cry?” Tony called out. 

That made Peter pause, Tony’s words permeating, that he had called him his kid. He was saved from any more thoughts by Nat walking into the room. She halted at the door, looking around the room.

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked.

“Did you forget we’re going back to the Tower today?” Pepper asked and Tony shook his head.

“Oh no, I remembered. I just don’t remember inviting an additional person.” 

“I asked her to go with us. She’s been helping me with the shelters and the orphans. We’re going to see them and some of the children love her.” Pepper replied, in a no nonsense tone. Tony grumped inwardly but didn’t say anything else.

“Happy is waiting for us. Tony, Peter, you want to go change?” Rhodey called out, putting his phone in his hand back into his pocket.

“We’re going back to the Tower?” Peter asked. He hadn’t seen the city since before Titan, and he was suddenly extremely nervous about the thought of going back there. Ned had told him a brief overview of what the city was like, and it hadn’t sounded good. 

“We need to take a look at the shelters. We’ve been away for them for a while.” Natasha replied from where she was still standing by the door.

“Fine. 10 minutes Pete.” 

Peter nodded at Tony and headed back into his room. He quickly changed from his pj pants to a pair of jeans and a new t-shirt, grabbing a pair of sneakers and his cellphone. He had lost his old cell phone at some point between jumping out of the bus and ending up on the spaceship but Tony had given him a new one, not that Peter used it for anything except talking to Ned. He only had a few other t-shirts at the Compound so he set himself a mental reminder to grab some that he knew were at the Tower if they were going to come back to the Compound. 

Peter headed out of his room to see everyone standing there, Tony’s hair back to his normal style as he had changed into jeans and a shirt with a jacket over it. 

The group minus Bruce who was staying at the Compound headed down the elevator to the garage where Happy was waiting, and Tony put an arm around Peter’s shoulder. 

“You okay?” 

Peter nodded, and although he knew Tony didn’t believe him, the man didn’t say anything else. He didn’t move his arm from Peter’s shoulder even as they headed down.

Once they reached the garage, they headed over to one of the bigger cars that Happy was already sitting in the drivers’ seat. Pepper climbed into the front and Peter got into the back with Tony, Natasha and Rhodey.  He was wildly aware that Tony pushed Rhodey to sit in between him and Natasha.

As they pulled out of the garage, Peter got his first view of the outside world since he had come back from Titan. The grass outside the compound was completely brown and dead. 

“It wasn’t on the top of the list.” Rhodey noticed what Peter was staring at. “Water supply wasn’t working the first few days and when the water companies were able to get it working again, lawn care wasn’t so important.”

“Tony.” Pepper called from the front and the four in the back all turned to her. She was holding a phone away from her ear. “We’ve been asked to go and approve the monuments. I think we should go on the way to the Tower.”

“Hey Pete.” Tony said softly and Peter turned his head to him. “They’ve set up monuments in all the big cities for people who were lost. Your aunt and MJ are both on the New York one. You can stay in the car if you want to, you don’t have to see them.”

Peter took a deep breath as he tried to decide what to do. Tony didn’t say anything, just looked at him as he tried to make his decision. 

“I think i’d like to see it.” Peter eventually said.

“Are you sure?” Tony asked and Peter nodded.

The car was quiet after that, Peter just staring out the window at the countryside and then as they approached the city. There were damaged buildings, glass shattered in many windows, both apartments and storefronts and cars lying abandoned on the sides of streets. Peter even saw a helicopter lying on its side on one of the side streets, the front of the buildings around it damaged. 

“Clean-up hasn’t been on many people’s minds yet. We’ve been focused on getting electricity, and water back for everyone and getting people off the streets.” Rhodey explained as Peter turned his head back to the car occupants, his mind overwhelmed. He knew New York, had lived in New York most of his life, and he could never have imagined that he would see it looking like this. 

“It’s a lot to take in but it’s much better than it was. We’re getting some food shipments in soon which should help.” Natasha replied. “Farmers have been able to get back to their fields, and some are taking care of their neighbors farms who are gone. There’s a long way to go, but progress has been made.”

Peter nodded, turning back to resume his staring out the window. He knew this was the first time Tony had been back too, and he could see the man’s reflection in the window, he looked as concerned and shocked as Peter felt. Happy navigated the car around empty cars until they reached a field where some steel structures had been erected. 

“People felt like they needed somewhere to put pictures of those who were lost. It turned into names being scratched into trees, and then these steel structures appeared overnight. No one is sure how it happened, but it led to it being replicated all across the US.” Happy explained to Peter’s querying face. 

“Ned added his mom, MJ and May. He wanted to put you but held off since we didn’t officially know you were gone.” Pepper replied. 

Peter nodded as he opened his door to climb out of the car, Tony following behind him. There were a few people scattered around but no one paid them much mind as they walked over. Pepper guided Peter to where May’s name was, and then stepped back. May’s name was right in the middle of the structure, and Peter reached out a hand to trace her name. 

His legs buckled and he hit the ground before he could stop himself, burying his face in his hands, sobs erupting from him once again. He felt arms coming around him and he moved his face into the person’s chest, covering his eyes with his hands. Tony. 

The man let Peter cry into his chest, doing nothing more than sitting there with him, fighting his own emotions as the teenager cried. Pepper knelt down on his other side, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder, no one saying anything.

Tony would have sat there all day if it weren’t for Happy coming over to them and pointing out the color of the sky. It was getting dark quickly and it was clear the predicted weather was coming in more quickly than intended.

“Pete. We can come back here whenever you want, but we need to get back to the Tower right now, okay?” Tony asked the teenager who nodded. Tony kept his arm around him as he helped pull him up, and then over to the car where Rhodey had been waiting for them. 

Peter didn’t say anything as the group headed back to the car, staying completely silent on the journey to the Tower. Tony shared a concerned look with Pepper, but neither of them wanted to bring it up around Peter. 

The skies had already opened up and the rain was coming down when Happy pulled the car into the garage and they all headed into the elevator to head up to the top floor. One of Pepper’s assistants was waiting right outside the elevator and she immediately walked away with her, sending Tony a look over Peter’s head. 

Tony invited Peter to sit on the couch with the rest of them but the teenager shook his head, heading towards his room at the Tower instead. He shut the door behind him and Tony sighed, debating whether to go after him or not. 

“Give him some space. He’ll be okay.” Rhodey commented and Tony nodded. He turned the tv on, straight to the news. They were lucky that the Tower was powered by the reactor and not by normal electricity and hadn’t been damaged. Pepper had told him that some of the lower floors had received damage from people trying to get in to find shelter but that she had taken care of it, and made sure they were taken care of and taken to a proper shelter. Tony made a note to himself to look into expanding that power immediately, to see how much of the city he could handle. 

There was only one news reporter on the tv, where there would normally be 4, and she was talking about the storm, warning everyone to stay inside and wait it out, rating the winds close to hurricane level. 

“This is the third storm we’ve had since the Snap. They’ve all been severe, especially for this time of year.” Happy commented as the rain lashed the windows.

“There’s a lot of other consequences from the snap than just losing half the people. All animals were split too, and it’s not good out there.” Natasha commented. Tony just nodded, staring at the tv.

“Can you two give us a minute?” Natasha asked Rhodey and Happy, who immediately looked at Tony. He nodded and the two men got up and left the room. Tony didn’t think they would go far.

“Tony.”

“Widow.” He replied. 

Natasha got up and moved to the couch by Tony, sitting down next to him, and he forced himself to look at her. 

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” Tony asked, completely taken aback.

“You were right, we didn’t listen and we paid the price. A serious price. And I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little too late for apologies? When I tried to tell you that I wanted to protect the world because things were out there, none of you would listen.” Tony’s anger was getting the best of him, and he didn’t try to tame it.

“We were wrong-” Natasha started and Tony cut her off.

“But you still followed after Steve, and the team split. I was in Titan with no one. Do you get that?” Tony asked.

“I do. We messed up. You should have had help on Titan, or you should have been in Wakanda with us. Not alone. And now these are the consequences, and Clint and his entire family are gone.”

“What?” Tony asked. He had been so preoccupied with Peter and Pepper and trying to sort out SI, that he hadn’t even considered that Clint or his family could be gone.

“I went to his house. No one was there, and no one has seen them since it happened.They’re all gone.” Tears sparkled in Natasha’s eyes as she looked at Tony. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

“It’s not like any of this matters anymore anyways. We lost and the world lost, and now this is our new reality. Half the universe gone, weather conditions getting more extreme, families torn apart and thousands of children left without their parents, who will likely never have parents again.” Tony was shouting now, unable to hold it back as Natasha just sat there. “Not to mention the people who died in crashes as a result of the snap. Do you have any idea how many people died because of that?”

Natasha shook her head.

“Because I do. Millions. Train crashes, car crashes, planes going down because pilots disappeared. This all could have been prevented.” 

“Tony?” Peter’s voice cut into Tony’s anger and he turned to see Peter standing at his doorway looking anxiously at him. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah kid. Everything’s okay. We were just talking.” Tony brought his voice down, so as to not startle Peter any more than he had. Peter had put a hoodie on over his t-shirt and his face was pale.

“That didn’t sound much like talking.” Peter replied.

“I know.” Tony agreed. “Do you want to come sit down?”   
  
“I was just leaving.” Natasha said and she got up to let Peter sit down next to Tony. As he sat down, Tony thought back to Rhodey’s comment about it being a new world, and he sighed. He needed to try to move on, and work on helping the world recover as much as it could, and he knew that meant working with Steve and Nat.

“Nat.” He called and she turned back around.

“Thank you for all the help you’ve been giving Pepper, and what you’ve done in the city. I’m glad Pepper had you. And i’m sorry about Clint, and his family.”  

  
Natasha smiled briefly before she turned back around to leave the room. Tony had no doubt Rhodey and Happy would be back in once they realized she had left. Peter was fumbling with his phone and Tony could see he was texting Ned.

“How is Ned?”

“He’s okay. He misses his mom a lot. He’s grateful his dad survived and that they have each other but he still misses his mom.” Peter replied sadly.  Tony hummed and they sat there in quiet, listening to the howling wind outside before Peter spoke again.

“What were you and Natasha arguing about? I could hear some of it but I wasn’t sure.”

“Stuff that happened in the past.” Tony replied.

“You said you were on Titan with no one.” Peter said softly and Tony immediately knew where he was going with that statement.

“I meant the other Avengers kid. I had only just made you an Avenger, but I meant the others. You were wonderful on Titan, but it would have been easier to fight Thanos with more help than the Guardians. Then Strange wouldn’t have given up the time stone.”

“Yeah, why did he do that? He said he’d rather let us die, and then he gave it up.” Peter asked. 

“I don’t know kid. It must have made sense to him.” Tony replied, and Peter looked back at his phone. 

“Hey Tony?”

“Yep?”

“Is it possible to have Ned and his dad move here? The city doesn’t seem very safe right now, and the Tower is really safe.”

“I’ll talk to Pepper. I know she moved some people into higher secured apartments. I can see if she can move Ned and his dad to one and we can see about covering anything that needs to be paid. Would that be okay?” Tony asked and Peter nodded. “Speaking of apartments, yours.”

Tony felt Peter take a deep breath before he put his phone down to look at Tony.

“Pepper is currently paying some security guards to watch over it and make sure no one tries to break in as that has apparently happened in a few places. She has anything Spiderman related here already, but she didn’t touch anything else. Do you want to go over there and pack it up or do you want someone else to? We can bring all of the clothing and other items here or to the Compound, and the furniture if you would like. Or we can donate the furniture to one of the shelters. It’s completely up to you kid.”

Peter’s eyes filled with tears again as he looked up at Tony, taking a moment before he replied. 

“I don’t think I can do it.” He whispered and Tony put his hand on the back of Peter’s neck. “We can donate the furniture and dishes and things but I want everything else. But I can’t do it.”

“That’s okay. I’ll have some people sent over tomorrow. You have some clothing here but everything else will come over tomorrow. We’re planning on staying at the Tower for a little while, if that’s okay with you. 

Peter nodded as he swiped at his cheeks angrily. Tony grabbed his hand to stop him and Peter took another deep breathe.

“I’m just so tired of it.” Peter said. He didn’t need to explain what he meant, knowing that Tony would understand. 

“I know bud. I know.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that I apparently really like to write Sleepy Peter? Not ashamed of that. 
> 
> IF I stick to my outline, the next chapter will bring a new character to the story- one that i'm excited about. There is the potential for another one as well- if I don't push them back for a third time. And there's a talk between two characters that i'm excited to write. 
> 
> I have a Tumblr if anyone feels following me. It's all Marvel with the occasional random thing thrown in there. bethyedolphin9870 is my username.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is a chapter count on this now- I'm currently at 30 chapters with 1 epilogue chapter but this could potentially change as one of the chapter has things that I might put into a different chapter, and reduce. 
> 
> I have everything outlined except for the whole Vormir thing. I have an idea for that but I am trying to see what I think works best. I'll say this again later, but even if I kill a character, they will not stay dead. This is a fix-it so no one will be dying permanently!
> 
> Also, this isn't going to be a very actiony filled story. It's meant to focus more on people, and how they interact with one another. There are some chapters that will have more action but generally, it's a slower story. 
> 
> I have also never written a chapter for a fic this long before. I normally range around 2000-3000 and this is in the 6000's.
> 
> Disclaimer: The usual not owning anything

**7 weeks passed. May 2018**

 

“Ah young Peter.”

Peter’s head shot up from where he was lying on his back on the floor to see Thor standing there.

“Hello Thor.” Peter greeted.

Thor smiled at Peter as he settled himself down on the couch and Peter settled himself down next to him.

“I understand you lost your mother.” Thor said.

“My aunt but yes.” Peter replied and Thor nodded.

“But I understand she was like your mother? That you lost your mother of birth?”

“Yes.” Peter agreed, looking down as he suddenly felt like there was a lump in his throat he was trying to swallow around. Thor just looked at him, his eyes soft as Peter pulled his eyes back up and tried to get himself under control.

“I lost my mother too. And my father. And my brother. And half of Asgard.” Thor smiled sadly as he stared off at the wall. As Peter looked at him, Thor pulled his eyes back to look at the teenager.

“It is hard to lose people we love, especially when we think we could have done something to prevent their deaths.”

“Did Tony talk to you or something?” Peter asked and Thor nodded.

“He did. I am leaving and I wanted to say my farewells. He told me about all you have lost as he knew I would understand.”

“You’re leaving? Where are you going?” Peter questioned.

“Pepper has been successful in her attempts to get the Norway government to take us in. The remaining people of Asgard, myself and Brunhilde. My people are there already and I shall be joining them very shortly. We will regroup and try to recover, in whatever means we can.” Thor explained.

“I’m sorry you lost your mom and your dad and your brother and your people.” Peter said.

“Thank you Peter. My mother and brother and my people all died noble deaths, protecting the ones they loved. Much more than I was able to do.” Peter startled slightly at the bitterness in Thor’s tone. Peter had heard from Tony and Bruce what had happened in space before Thanos had even made it to Earth, and that Thor was grieving.

“You saved Bruce though, Tony said that you got him away and to Earth where he was able to warn everyone to Thanos coming.” Peter replied.

“That wasn’t me Peter. That was Heimdall. His last act was to save Banner while I allowed him, my brother and my people to perish.” Thor stated.

As Peter opened his mouth again, Thor stood up from the couch abruptly, cutting off anymore of the conversation.

“Young Peter, we will see each other again soon I am sure. For now, I bid you farewell.”

Peter nodded feeling extremely sad as Thor left the room, staring after him for a few moments before going back to his phone and continuing his texting of Ned who was describing the new apartment Pepper had moved he and his father to. It was only a few blocks from the Tower and much safer than their previous one which they were all thankful for. The old one was full of memories with Ned’s mom and Ned had told Peter it was hard to leave that behind but they had experienced multiple incidents of people trying to break into their apartment and apartments around them and it wasn’t a safe place anymore.

Peter was in the middle of telling Ned about his conversation with Thor when Tony walked in, talking on his cellphone. He motioned to Peter who got up and followed Tony out of the living room to the elevator.

As they headed down, Peter figured out that Tony was on the phone with Pepper, hearing her voice on the other end even without his enhanced hearing. They were discussing the shelters, a fact that made Peter’s heart jolt. He had completely forgotten about the shelters and it instantly made him feel like an awful person. His feelings must have shown on his face because Tony gave him a look and then quickly hung up the phone with Pepper.

“You okay?” Tony asked and Peter nodded, not opening his mouth for fear of what might escape as he fought to get his emotions back under control.

“You sure?” Peter nodded again as the elevator doors opened.

“Alright.” Peter knew Tony didn’t believe him but he didn’t push it, a fact that Peter was grateful for.

“Did you talk to Thor?” Tony asked as they exited the elevator and Peter took a deep breath.

“He said he’s leaving.” Peter got out, feeling sad about it all over again.

“Pep was able to get Norway to give them some land. I don’t know how, all the borders are completely closed but she somehow did it, and was able to fly them all over there with the private jet. Bruce left too.”

“What?” Peter asked, completely taken aback with surprise.

“He said he needed space for some time. I’m not sure what he’s doing. I think he’s feeling pretty guilty he couldn’t get the Hulk to appear when he was needed, especially during that fight before we ended up on the spaceship.” Tony looked down at Peter who was currently rubbing his eyes as they started welling up.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’ll come back.”

“I know.” Peter sighed. “I just hate people leaving, and I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Bruce.” He admittedly didn’t know Bruce that well beyond the talks they’d had when Peter and Tony had been recovering but he was still one of his idols and he was sad to hear the man had gone.

“I know kid.” Tony put his arm around Peter and as they resumed walking, Peter swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.

“We have some visitors.” Tony said a moment later and Peter looked up at him, wiping his hand on his pants.

“Who?”

“Steve, the space trio and a kid and her mom. Do you remember the guy in Germany who shrunk?” Tony asked.

“The one who I webbed his legs?” Peter asked, trying to remember. That fight had been chaos and he had been trying so hard to impress Tony with his skills.

“That’s the one. His name was Scott Lang, and he disappeared but Steve apparently found his daughter and his ex-wife and brought them here.” Tony explained.

Peter nodded and then registered Tony’s other words.

“Space trio?”

“Carol, Nebula and the Build-A-Bear.”

“Do you mean Rocket?”

“That’s the one.” Tony nodded.

“Why are they all here?” Peter asked as the two of them finally reached the main common area. As they rounded the corner, the noise level grew with the amount of people amassed in the space. Peter saw all the people Tony had mentioned, including a brunette girl who he assumed was Scott’s mentioned daughter standing with a fair haired woman talking to Steve and Natasha. Rhodey and Happy were there too.

“It’s definitely a party in here.” Tony called out and all the heads turned towards him and Peter, the teenager feeling his cheeks heat up under all the eyes looking at them.

“Tony, Peter- this is Maggie and Cassie Lang.” Natasha called out to them, motioning to the child as she said the name Cassie.

Cassie broke away from her mom to hurry over to them.

“Are you the spider-man my daddy mentioned?” Cassie asked looking up at Peter. He looked over at Tony who was looking amused.

“I am. Or I was.” Peter replied as he nodded.  

“You were?” Cassie questioned.

“Um, yeah. I don’t know if I still am.” Peter could feel Tony’s eyes on him as he deliberately didn’t look over at him. It had crossed Peter’s mind a few nights before that he didn’t know if he could ever put the suit back on, but he hadn’t mentioned that to Tony or anyone, not even Ned.

“Oh. I hope you still are, because Spiderman is awesome. My daddy said you took him down when he was huge. But you aren’t huge so you must be really good to have taken him down.” Cassie commented, already moving on from Peter’s hesitation. Maggie walked over to them quickly, putting her hand on Cassie’s mouth.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized quickly and Peter shook his head, smiling slightly.

“Can we help you with anything? Do you need any assistance? Anything at all?” Tony asked from behind Peter and Maggie shook her head.

“Your fiance Pepper has a plane set for us to go back to San Francisco shortly. We were vacationing with my husband in Maine where Steve found us, and he disappeared, along with Scott.” Maggie replied.

“And Hope.” Cassie chimed up from

behind her mom’s hand.

“And Hope, and her parents as well.” Maggie agreed.

“This is my phone number. You can call if you need anything.” Tony handed a piece of paper over to Maggie who looked surprised but took it from

him before shoving the paper into her pocket.

“Thank you, but you hardly know us? And you were on a different side from Scott on that battle in Germany. Why would you offer to help us?”

Peter heard Tony sigh slightly behind him before he put a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“A lot of mistakes were made there.” Tony started. “There were sides that shouldn’t have been needed. And with what has happened, any assistance that can be given, needs to be given.”

“Thank you.” Maggie smiled before Steve walked over to them.

“The plane is ready to go.”

“Bye Spiderman!” Cassie called back as her mom took her hand to follow after Steve. Peter waved back to her as Tony stepped around him to look Peter in the eyes.

“We need to talk about that Spiderman comment bud.”

“Later. Please.” With any luck, Peter could just keep pushing it back until Tony forgot about the comment altogether.

“Alright, later.” Tony agreed before he pulled away to look at the others in the room.

“What do we owe the honor to everyone coming here?”

“Tony, we’re leaving.” Carol said. Immediately Peter’s eyes welled back up and Tony swung back to look at him.

“And going where?” Tony asked. Peter glanced around the room looking for a chair and spotted a couch that was the closest object to him. He pulled away from Tony’s gaze to walk over to it. Rhodey was sitting on it and he looked at Peter as he sat down, covering his eyes with his hands, trying to will the tears away.

“This snap happened all across the galaxy. People need our help.” Carol explained.

“And you Nebula?” Tony asked.

“If I can help, I should.” Nebula replied. “The Guardians are gone, but Rocket and I can help.”

“We can’t bring them back, so this is all we can do.” Rocket said.

Rhodey’s hand landed on Peter’s back as he continued to try to stop the tears from escaping through his hands.

“Are you all going together?” Rhodey asked.

“I’m going by myself, not with these two. We’ll be more effective that way.” Carol answered.

“And you’re leaving now? After Bruce and Thor just left?” Happy inquired.

“There are other people in need. This planet has help, and we must go help the others.” Carol responded.

There was silence and then Peter felt the couch next to him dip before a female hand landed on his back. He pulled his hands away to see Carol sitting there, looking at him.

“Why do you have to go? Everyone keeps leaving.” Peter asked.

“We can help other people Peter. We need to go and help them. This planet is in good hands.” Carol explained.

“I just feel like everyone I know leaves me.” Peter confessed.

“I know it feels like that but there are plenty of people here for you. If I could, I would stay. I am from Earth after all and I have my family here.”

“You have a family?” Rhodey asked sounding surprised.

“Not my actual family but as good as. My best friend Maria, and her daughter Monica.”

“Did they survive?” Rhodey asked and Carol nodded.

“They both did. I’m going to see them before I leave the planet.”

“I’m glad they survived.” Peter said softly.

“Thank you, I am too. And I'm glad I got to meet you and get to know you. We’ll see each other soon.”

“That’s what Thor said too.” Peter replied.

“Then it must be true.” Carol said softly. “If you ever need me, you can always call me. Either of you.” Carol looked over Peter’s head and he saw her give Rhodey a look.

“Hey! I saw that look. What did that mean?” Tony called out from across the room where he had been talking to Nebula.

“Nothing Tony.” Rhodey called back.

“That wasn’t a nothing look Rhodey. That was a look look.”

“Goodbye for now Peter.”

Peter stayed on the couch as Carol, Nebula and Rocket gave their goodbyes before they headed outside, Tony and Natasha followed them, leaving only Rhodey, Happy and Peter inside. Happy excused himself quickly so it was only Rhodey and Peter.

They sat in silence for a while, Peter lost in his thoughts of who would be the next one to leave.

“Peter.” Rhodey said eventually and Peter looked up at him.

“How are you doing?”

Peter shrugged.

“Yeah, me too kid.” Rhodey replied. “I lost my mom in the snap. If you ask Tony, he could tell you stories about her. She was one of the strongest women I've ever met, your aunt and Pepper being the other two. I lost my dad suddenly when I was 10, and my mom held us together, much like your aunt-“

Peter let out a sob, tears flowing down his face now and Rhodey moved his hand to squeeze Peter’s shoulder.

“I think she cursed the day I met Tony. He got me into quite a few interesting situations, and after the third one, she decided she’d had enough. She somehow got his phone number and called him. I’ve never seen him get yelled at like that. Of course It didn’t change anything because it’s Tony, but it made her feel better. But when she actually met him, he instantly won her over with that charm he seems to possess, and now she loves, or rather she loved him. I think they spoke at least once every few weeks or so. And she loved Pepper.”

“She sounds like May.” Peter whispered. “Yelling at Tony.”

Rhodey laughed slightly. “I miss her a lot. I know Tony and Pepper do too.”

“I miss May so much it hurts.” Peter mumbled, the tears still running down his face. “Like a hole in my chest that’s never going to heal.”

“I know kid. It hurts like hell to lose someone. I know you’ve unfortunately experienced it a lot.”

“It feels like it’s never ending.”

“I won’t give the whole it’ll get better with time speech because I don’t think that’s helpful, but you have to keep going and keep moving. My mom, your aunt, everyone else that was lost, they would want their loved ones to keep living, and that means change as the world learns to deal with this new world we’re living in.”

“I hate change.” Peter muttered.

“You know that Thor, Bruce and Carol being gone isn't a forever thing, right? They’ll be back.”

“I know.” Peter replied. “I just hate that they left. I know why, but I still hate it.”

Rhodey didn’t reply to that, so the two just continued to sit in silence on the couch, Rhodey keeping his hand on Peter’s shoulder as Peter swiped at his eyes every so often.

-

“We’re fractured Steve!”

“Tony-“

The voices came up through the carpet from below as Peter came out of the bathroom. He was in his room, having gone there after his talk with Rhodey, not wanting to talk to anyone and maybe avoiding Tony. He recognized the voices pretty quickly as Tony and Steve,

“I’m sorry, okay? I really am Tony. I shouldn’t have kept your parents death from you, and I am sorry for what I did.”

“Did I not tell you sorry doesn’t cut it? But it really doesn’t matter anymore. There’s really nothing left of the Avengers. The world is a mess. Hell, as proven by Carol and the Guardians duo,

the whole universe is a mess. There’s shelters full of orphans, people without children, missing their spouses because we couldn’t agree on something. Because you and I couldn’t get it together and split the team, the world suffered.”

“No one could have predicted this level of destruction.”

“The threat has always been there. The earth has always been under threat, especially after New York. We won that because we worked together and we were a team. A new team, but a team.”

“We’re still a team Tony.”

“Who? You, me, Rhodey? Nat? No one else is here. Thor and Bruce are gone, Clint’s dead, Sam’s dead, Wanda’s dead, the Ant dude is dead, TChalla is dead-“

“Okay, I get it Tony. But what about Peter? He’s Spiderman.”

“And I'm pretty sure he wants absolutely nothing to do with it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Something he said earlier. I have to talk to him about it.”

The voices were quieter now but Peter could still hear them.

“Tony, I really am sorry.”

“I know Cap. I’m sorry too. I know you lost Wilson and Barnes. Not that I can really forgive Barnes, but I am sorry you lost him again.”

“I think I'm going to stay in Brooklyn, in my apartment. Nat and I have been talking and I want to start counselling sessions.”

“You know you’re welcome to stay here.”

“I know but I think I should go to Brooklyn. A lot of people still need help, and I think I can help. Maybe help boost some kids’ morale with the Cap suit.”

“Anything you need help with, SI can help. We’ve got a lot going into the shelters right now and an environmental project Rhodey is heading, but can assist with anything else you need.”

“Thanks Tony. I’ll let you know.”

The voices tapered off as the two men left the room below Peter, and he was left sitting on his bed for a few moments before an idea came to him.

“Friday?” Peter called up to the ceiling.

“Yes Peter?”

“Am I allowed to leave the Tower?”

“You are.”

“Will you alert Tony?”

“I won’t tell him unless he asks.”

“So if I go out, you won’t tell him?” Peter asked.

“I will not.”

“Perfect!” Peter jumped up off his bed, searching for a jacket. It was May but it was a colder day and he was more affected by the cold than others.

“FRI?”

“Yes Peter?”

“Where is the closest shelter?” Peter called up. He had now heard mention of the shelters multiple times, and made the decision that he needed to go and help out at one of them. Everyone seemed to be helping, except him. He didn’t think he could be Spiderman because he had failed so badly at that recently, but he could help with this.

“There is one three blocks to the West after you exit the side door on the main floor.”

Peter hurried out the door to his bedroom, heading to the elevator. FRIDAY took him down to the main level, Peter grateful that he didn’t run into anyone as he exited the Tower. He spotted a security guard facing the opposite direction as he quickly turned the corner to avoid being seen.

As he headed towards the shelter, he realized he didn’t have his phone on him but he didn’t want to go all the way back up to his room, so he decided to just keep walking.

As he walked along, he surveyed the area around the Tower. He noticed that the area didn’t look as bad as some of the others he’d seen, but there were cars with windows smashed out as well as store windows missing glass. His shoes crunched broken glass from both windows and bottles on the ground as he walked along.

Two police officers walked in his direction, garbage bags in their hands as they bent down every few feet to pick up items. They smiled and nodded at Peter as they passed and he smiled back.

He reached the end of the block and looked to his left, noticing the shelter in front of him. The front of the building was plastered in posters. As Peter got closer, he realized they were posters of the missing, all slapped on haphazardly. There were pictures of all ages- from young babies to grey-haired adults. He stood there for a minute, looking at the sheer number of them before pushing on the red doors to get inside the building.

A harried looking woman was sitting at a desk and she looked up when Peter came in.

“Hi honey, if you’re looking for a place to stay, I need you to fill out this info and we can get you settled with-“ The woman picked up a clipboard to hand to Peter and he shook his head.

“Um, I was actually wondering if I could help with anything?”

“Oh honey. We would love the help. Head down that hallway and go into the first room on your left. Ask for Lauren and tell her Nicole sent you. Thank you so much.”

Peter nodded and turned to head down the hallway that the woman- Nicole- had pointed to.

“What’s your name honey?” Nicole called out

“Peter.” Peter called back as he found the door and pushed on it. He was instantly in a room filled with young babies, and a few women.

“Hello there.” A woman greeted him as he walked in, a baby cradled in each arm.

“Hi. I’m Peter. I’m looking for Lauren? Nicole sent me.” Peter replied.

“That’s me. Can you help?” The woman announced and Peter nodded. She motioned with her head for Peter to follow her and they headed over to a corner where a rocking chair sat.

“We’re behind on some of the feedings. Have you ever fed a baby before?” Lauren asked him and Peter shook his head.

“Okay, crash course. Sit here.” Peter sat in the chair and Lauren held out one of the babies towards him, instructing Peter to cradle his arms. The baby was a warm weight in his arms, blinking up at him as he held it.

“This is Taylor. We don’t know if that’s her real name, we don’t know anything about her, just that she was found by a police officer a few days after the snap.” Lauren explained.

Peter held out a finger to Taylor, who grasped it in her little hand. She cooed at him and Peter’s heart melted.

“Here.” Lauren handed Peter a half-filled bottle of milk. He noticed there were a few of them on a table.

“You just have to hold it to her mouth and she’ll latch on. It’s not as much as we want to feed her, but we don’t have enough for everyone to have as much as they need. After you’ve fed her, put her over your shoulder and pat her back to burp her. You might want to put this cloth over your back- she tends to throw up a little bit.” Lauren explained as she reached over Peter to put the cloth over his shoulder, aware of the baby still lying happily in her arms.

“Okay?” Peter nodded and Lauren moved away. He put the bottle up to Taylor’s lips and she latched on, sucking the lip of the bottle. As she did so, Peter looked back up at the woman who was a few feet away.

“Lauren?”

“Yes?”

“You said you don’t have enough milk? Aren’t the Stark’s funding this place?” Peter asked. He was surprised to hear that anything was low, considering it was Pepper who was in charge of the shelter.

“They are, and they are the only reason we even have anything we have. But supply for anything is low right now, especially food wise. A lot of animals died too and farmers are struggling. Pepper Potts is a wonderful, amazing woman but even she can’t get us everything that is needed, not for her lack of trying though.” Lauren replied. “A lot of the clothes we have are people who have kindly donated things they have. Like the onesie Taylor is wearing. That was donated by a woman who lost her child but still wanted to help in any way that she could.”

Peter swallowed hard as he looked back down at the baby in his arms. She was contentedly sucking at the bottle, almost completely done but still holding onto Peter’s finger.

As soon as she was done with the bottle, he carefully lifted her up to place her over his shoulder and patted the tiny back. After a few minutes, she hiccupped and he felt warmth hit the cloth. He grimaced and one of the other women laughed gently at him.

“They do tend to do that.” She said to Peter as he pulled Taylor back into his arms, discarding of the dirty cloth on the side table.

Lauren took Taylor from his arms to lie her down across the room in a cot.

“She’ll take a nap now, want to help feed more?” Lauren asked and Peter nodded, so she handed him a bit bigger baby named George, who had been found by a neighbor. George babbled at Peter excitedly until he offered him the bottle and he made happy grabby hands at it.

Peter wasn’t sure how long he sat there, helping feed the babies that Lauren kept handing him and then taking away, but he was aware when Tony was suddenly standing in front of him.

“Hey.” Peter said softly looking up. The baby he was holding- Cara- was slowly falling asleep in his arms, her eyes blinking slowly.

“Hey yourself. Want to tell me why you left the Tower without telling anyone?” Tony asked. He knelt down so he was at Peter’s level, and Peter could see that he looked slightly harried.

“I told FRIDAY.” Peter replied as he stroked Cara’s soft, baby cheek.

“That does not count, and you know it. Pete.” Tony’s tone made Peter look at him, and he sighed.

“I just felt like everyone was doing something and I wasn’t doing anything to help, and I wanted to.”

“You’re only a kid Pete. You don’t have to help.” Tony replied.

“I’m 15.” Peter replied a little too harshly and Cara squirmed underneath him, whining a little. He shushed her and ran his finger down her cheek again.

“Oh Mr Stark-“ Lauren suddenly appeared next to Peter. “I see you’ve met today’s rockstar. He’s helped feed 10 babies today.”

“10?” Peter asked. “It didn’t feel like that many.”

“You’ve been here 3 hours.” Tony informed Peter as he handed the now sleeping Cara over to Lauren.

“And now you’re coming back to the Tower with me.” Tony pulled Peter to his feet and then slung an arm over his shoulders. Peter waved to Lauren and the others as they left, the women all watching with varying degrees of surprise on their face. Nicole looked very much the same as they passed her by and left the shelter. Peter couldn’t help but look at the posters as they left, sighing again as he registered just how many posters there were.

“Kid, you can’t just take off like that. We all thought you were in your room until just a little while ago. No one even knew you’d left.” Tony started.

“I wasn’t going far, I just wanted to help.” Peter protested, starting to feel a little frustrated with the man.

“I know and I'm proud of you for that, but can you please let someone know, instead of just leaving? Otherwise I will update FRIDAY to inform me and I don’t think you want that.”

Peter pulled away from Tony’s grip and stopped, causing the man to stop as well.

“Do you not trust me?!” His voice rose at the end of the sentence and Tony looked completely surprised.

“Of course I trust you Peter. It’s everyone else I don’t trust. There’s a lot of desperate people right now and despite our best efforts, we haven’t been able to help everyone yet.” Tony explained and Peter felt his anger completely dissipate as quickly as it had come.

“Sorry.” He muttered as he let Tony put an arm on his shoulder again and they resumed their walk.

“It’s okay kid. Just please let us know if you leave again? I would prefer if you leave that you have someone else with you but if you do go alone, please tell someone? It would be better if that someone is me, but someone else is okay too.”

Peter nodded as the Tower came into view and the two of them headed into a side entrance. Pepper was standing there and she looked relieved when she saw him.

“So kid,” Tony started as he pulled his arm away and Peter looked at him. “Do you remember when I told you about the kid in Tennessee?”

“The one during the Mandarin thing?” Peter asked, confused.

“Yep. Harley.” Tony confirmed

“What about him?” Peter asked.

“He’s here.” Pepper replied.

“He is?”

“Just showed up about an hour ago. Drove here all the way from Tennessee, don’t really know how but he did.” Tony explained.

“Oh.” Peter replied, not sure how to clarify his feelings. Tony had mentioned Harley on more than one occasion but Peter had never thought that he’d ever meet him.

“But because he showed up here, and his family is all gone, Pepper and I are looking to get guardianship of him too.” Tony said slowly and Peter nodded.

“Are you okay?” Pepper asked and Peter nodded. He couldn’t be upset when the other teenager had clearly lost all of his family too and needed Tony and Pepper just as much as he did.

Peter followed Pepper and Tony as they headed to the elevator to head up to the common room, his head spinning slightly. When they exited into the common room, Peter saw the blonde teenager sitting on the couch talking to Happy.

“Harley.” Tony called out and the other boy looked over. Peter thought he looked a little older than himself but he was thinner than Peter, which was saying a lot.

“This is Peter.” Peter waved slightly awkwardly to the other teenager who waved back.

“Could the two of you be any more awkward?” Tony groaned.

“Tony!” Pepper scolded.

“Pep.”

Pepper’s phone ringing broke up the conversation and she picked it up. Peter and Harley stared at each other awkwardly while she talked, while Tony grinned at them both.

“We’re going to have to have a press conference.” Pepper said hanging up the phone.

 

-

“Hello everyone.” Pepper spoke into the microphone at the podium in front of the room with Tony next to her and Happy and Rhodey standing further back. Peter was back in the common room of the Tower with Harley, Steve and Natasha. There were about 20 reporters in the room with a few cameras which were showing the conference, one of the stations that the group were now watching.

“We are here to give new information about what Stark Industries has been doing to help. We are aware that there have been questions regarding our involvement. At the moment, we are still funding the shelters throughout the city and in neighboring states. We are looking at building more shelters throughout the country but that is challenging right now.” Pepper started before questions started getting thrown at her.

“How are you helping when you’re in the safety of the Tower?”

“Have you even been outside to see the streets?”

“You didn’t even lose anything or anyone.”

“There are so many orphans! Why aren’t you doing more to help them!”

“Good to see they are still vultures even after the snap.” Natasha commented as Tony held a hand up to silence the questions as he stood up to the podium.

“To answer your questions, the shelters are very oriented towards the kids who lost their parents. Both myself and Ms Potts have been there as well as other Avengers. While I was gone, they handled various clean-up initiatives and have been helping in many ways. For you to suggest otherwise is completely false. While it may seem like we didn’t lose anyone, that is not true. And our loved ones lost people that they care about, so of course we care.”

Tony hesitated before looking at Pepper who nodded.

“And on that note, we have taken guardianship of two of those kids who lost their families. We aren’t going to talk about them right now or their names, because they are dealing with their loss and deserve time, just like anyone else.”

“Why did you pick those two?” Someone shouted out.

“I knew both of them before the snap. They are both teenagers and need someone to look out for them.” Tony explained.

“So it wasn’t random? You picked kids you already knew?”

“First off, I didn’t pick them. They both lost their families and like I said, need someone to look out for them. I would much rather they have their families, but this is where the world is right now.” Tony replied. Peter could hear a hint of frostiness in his voice as Pepper laid a hand on his arm.

“Will we get to know their identities?”

“As Tony said, they deserve time to grieve in peace without getting bothered, so you will not get to know their identities yet.” Pepper answered.

“Colonel Rhodes, we heard you are working with the President to get the borders back open, how is that going?”

Tony and Pepper both stepped back to let Rhodey step forward to answer.

“I won’t release all information but we are working towards that. The borders won’t be fully open for a long time yet, but we are working to get all US Citizens who are abroad back to the US and making sure that anyone who was visiting the US can get back to their home countries. The embassy’s are working overtime with any employees they have and we hope to start bringing citizens back in the next few weeks.”

“What if they don’t want to come back or go back to their home countries?”

“We haven’t had anyone not want to come back or not go home but under the circumstances we would certainly see what we needed to do to follow people’s wishes as much as we can.” Rhodey explained. “This is an unprecedented event so there is still a lot that is up in the air.”

“How did you even get here? Aren’t the roads blocked with abandoned cars and trucks?” Steve asked Harley as Rhodey continued to talk on the tv.

“I can hotwire cars. Everytime I found somewhere that I couldn’t get around, I left the car I was in and took another one.” Harley explained.

“Did you run into anyone as you did that?” Natasha asked.

“Tons. Some people doing the same as me, some just wandering around completely confused. I tried to help some.” Harley shrugged. “Some had guns so I tried to stay away from them.”

“You are lucky that you didn’t run into any trouble getting here, all the way from Tennessee.” Steve commented. “Why did you decide now?”

“I was staying with this family friend but he was starting to go kind of mad. He lost his wife and his daughter and I thought it was time to leave. Rose Hill isn’t exactly a big place to begin with and after the snap, it turned into a ghost town really.” Harley explained.

“How exactly do you know Tony again?” Natasha questioned.

“Do you remember the Mandarin a number of years ago? When Tony threatened a terrorist? I met him then and helped him fix the suit and find The Mandarin. We kept in touch after that.” Harley shrugged. “When I heard he’d come back and was alive, I figured I should come here, it would be safer.”

“You’re not wrong.” Steve said.

“Speaking of safe, did you seriously go out in your Captain America outfit?” Harley asked Steve.

“What?” Peter asked. He had been partly paying attention to the conversation as he texted Ned.

“I thought it might help crime if I walked around for a bit in the stars and stripes.” Steve replied.

“And did it?” Natasha asked.

“Not as much as I hoped.” Steve grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Harley joins the story! I don't know if he was snapped or not, but he's not in this.  
> This chapter was a lot of dialogue I know, but I have a time jump for the next chapter and I needed to get Thor, Bruce and the Space Crew out of New York in this chapter.  
> And I needed Steve and Tony to have their conversation there. They aren't really there yet, but moving towards becoming friendly again.  
> I had so much fun writing the shelter part- just having Peter cuddling babies. :) I know Tony canonically does that in the comics, but I thought having Peter do it would be fun. 
> 
> As always, please comment and let me know your thoughts. :) Or if you have any ideas for Vormir. Like I said- I have my ideas but am always open to more!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I sincerely apologize for the delay in a new chapter. I am dealing with a lot in my life, so I kind of stopped writing for a few weeks. But now i'm back. :)
> 
> Quite a few things happen in this chapter and I feel like it might be a bit bouncy aroundy, so it's not my favorite. I even had more things I wanted to put in here but they got pushed back to another chapter.   
> I'm trying to include multiple people in here while focusing on Tony and Peter. 
> 
> Disclaimer: As usual, i own nothing Marvel or Endgame or anything.

**3 Months Jump- August 2018 (5 months past the Snap)**

 

“It’s the kids’ birthday soon.” Tony commented to Pepper as they lay in their bed in the room at the Compound.

“Which kid? We have two.” Pepper asked.

“Peter’s. I don’t actually know when Harley’s is. Isn’t this something we should automatically know since we’re his guardian?” Tony questioned.

“Probably.” Pepper replied simply. She was focused on the book in her hands and as Tony looked at her face, he saw the dark bags under her eyes.

Peter had woken them up in the night with a nightmare, screaming himself hoarse and both Pepper and Tony had responded when FRIDAY had alerted them. Harley who was staying in Vision’s old room had made an appearance but Pepper had sent him back to bed while they soothed Peter. It had taken over an hour and a half before they had managed to get him to go back to sleep, and then Tony had woken them both up with his own nightmare a few hours later, about the snap and losing Peter. Peter wouldn’t tell them what his nightmare was about but Tony would bet his entire fortune it was also about Titan and the snap, and it made him feel incredibly guilty all over again that he hadn’t stopped it. 

“FRIDAY, how are the boys?” Tony called up to the ceiling.

“Both Peter and Harley are sleeping peacefully.” FRIDAY replied.

“I think we need to do something Tony.” Pepper said, and Tony looked at her as she put the book down next to the bed before turning her head on the pillow to face him.

“This is the third nightmare this week and it’s only Thursday. I know I can’t get you to talk to someone, but should we try to find someone for him to talk to?”

“I don’t think he would.” Tony said. “He’s pretty guarded when it comes to that.”

“Reminds me of someone else I know.” Pepper replied and Tony shook his head.

“He’s much better than me.”

“I think it would help.” Pepper pushed.

“Let me talk to him about it. I think he’ll take it better hearing it from me.” Tony said.

“Soon. We’re moving back to The Tower next week for the boys to go back to school, and we can find someone then.” Pepper replied and Tony nodded.

“Boss. Harley is awake and Peter is showing signs of waking up.” FRIDAY called out and Tony groaned. He leaned over to kiss Pepper before getting out of the warm bed and headed to his bathroom to get ready.

When he exited the bathroom with his teeth brushed and wearing jeans and a sweater, Pepper was gone from the bed, so he headed out into the Common area. Harley was sitting on the couch watching cartoons and eating cereal, and he waved at Tony as he saw him.

“How old are you again? Too old to be doing that.” Tony commented. 

“I’m 16.” Harley replied.

“Too old to be doing that.” Tony repeated.

“Lies.” Harley replied. Tony snorted and sat himself down on the couch next to him and Harley put his spoon down again. “Um, how’s Peter?” 

“He’s okay, I think.” Tony replied. “He’s lived through some pretty hardcore shit in his life.”

“Pepper said you were both in space.” Harley said and Tony

“We were. We fought the guy who caused this to happen.” Tony nodded. “I was stabbed at one point, and had a moon thrown at me.”

“Tony.” Harley’s jaw dropped. “Who even are you?”

“The Mechanic.” Tony replied instantly. He looked at Harley who went back to his cereal, before opening his mouth again. “How are you doing kid? You really haven’t said much about your family since you showed up all those months ago.” 

“Are you asking because of Peter’s nightmares?” Harley replied.

“Well that, and I want to know how you are. I know being in New York has been a big adjustment, and you’re going to be starting at Peter’s school soon.” 

“I’m alright. I mean, I have no idea if Dad’s alive, and Mom wasn’t around all that much but I do miss Lauren.” Harley responded. “I sometimes think about telling her something i’m experiencing and then I remember that I can’t. I can’t even look at her favorite cereal or watch her favorite show, and I can hardly look at anything that’s her favorite color but it’s getting better as time goes on, I think.”

“That’s grief for you kid. It ebbs and flows.” Tony replied. 

“It sucks.” Harley grumbled.

“It does indeed, and I am sorry you have to go through it.”

“It wasn’t your fault though Tony.” Harley responded. Tony didn’t say anything and Harley set down his bowl on the table. “Seriously Tony, this was not your fault.” 

“He’s right.” Peter’s voice broke in as the teenager walked out of his room and into the common area. “If anyone is at fault, it’s me.” 

“Pete-“ Tony started before Harley broke into them both.

“Stop. It’s neither of your faults. Pepper wasn’t kidding when she said you both blame yourself for everything.” 

“When do you talk to my fiance behind my back?” Tony asked.

“All the time. We have full discussions about the two of you.” Harley grinned.

Peter flopped down onto the couch between Harley and Tony and lay his head on Tony’s shoulder, sighing deeply as he did so.

“Pete?” Tony asked.

“I’m so tired.” Peter mumbled. Tony looked down to see that the teenagers’ eyes were closed and his breaths were deepening against Tony. It only took a few moments before Peter’s entire weight was slumped against Tony and he was asleep again. 

“Is he okay?” Pepper walked in with Natasha and Rhodey following. “Good

morning Harley.”

“He’s just tired.” Tony replied. He knew Peter was asleep deep enough that they wouldn’t need to worry about waking him up with their voices. 

“Harley, can you leave us alone for a little while? We have to talk business?” Pepper asked and Harley nodded, grabbing his bowl of cereal and heading out the room to towards his room.

“Do you want to move him?” Rhodey asked, motioning his head towards Tony and he shook his head. “He’s alright. I don’t want to risk waking him up if I try to move him.” 

“You look tired.” Natasha commented. She, Pepper and Rhodey all sat down around Tony, Pepper taking the couch on the other side of Peter.

“Thanks Widow.” Tony replied dryly. “What business do we need to discuss exactly?”

“The Avengers.” Pepper replied. “It’s been 5 months and people are questioning if the remaining Avengers are going to help.”

“We’ve been lucky not to have anything we’ve been needed for, but that might not last. Someone might eventually decide to take advantage of the world still recovering.” Natasha explained. 

“We barely even have any of the Avengers left.” Tony commented.

“There is a few. You, Steve, Rhodes, Natasha.” Pepper listed.

“And Peter.” Natasha said and Tony shook his head.

“I doubt that. Everytime I have mentioned Spiderman, Pete has changed the subject.”

“We do have Thor and Bruce too. Not that anyone knows where Bruce is, but we do know where Thor is.” Rhodey suggested and Tony shook his head again.

“Don’t you remember that last call we had with him?” Tony, Pepper and Rhodey had video chatted with Thor the week previous to check up on him, and the God had been uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn, Brunhilde had ended up giving them an update on the Asgardians. 

“I do.” Rhodey said.

“Then you know as well as I do that we’ll have little chance of convincing him to join us.” Tony said

“We do need to decide who is going to be in charge of the Avengers. The majority of the committee disappeared, and the ones who didn’t don’t have the Avengers on their agenda. And Ross dusted.” Pepper explained.

“I nominate you Nat.” Rhodey said.

“What? Why?” Natasha asked.

“I agree. Pepper and I have SI business and working on assisting any employees and Harley & Peter, Rhodey is still working with the government, Steve is in the City with his counseling groups, and Thor definitely can’t lead right now.” Tony said. Peter shifted slightly on Tony’s shoulder and Tony rubbed his shoulder to settle him down.

“Well, speaking of taking over, we do actually have a meeting with Wakanda scheduled for about 15 minutes from now.” Rhodey commented. “Carol, Nebula and Rocket are going to be on as well.”

“Okay, lets go talk to them.” Natasha said getting up. Tony motioned towards Rhodey and then towards Peter. The man got up to put a hand on Peter’s head and move it away from Tony’s shoulder. Tony got up quickly and he and Rhodey carefully lay Peter down on the couch without waking him up. Pepper walked over with a blanket to lie it over the sleeping teenager before she grabbed Tony’s hand. Tony brushed his hand over Peter’s forehead before they followed the others out of the room to the main area where they would connect with the others. 

“FRIDAY, let Harley know where we are if he asks.” Tony called up, as the screens in front of them came to life and holograms appeared. Okoye appeared in one, Carol in another and then Rocket and Nebula in another one. 

“It is good to see you all.” Carol said. Her head turned to where Tony and Pepper were standing. “How is Peter?”

“We’re working on it.” Tony replied.

“Have you thought about getting him an animal?” Nebula asked. 

“What?” Tony questioned.

“An animal. Rocket here is a good companion.” Nebula suggested motioning to Rocket who glared back up at her.

“I am not an animal.” Rocket protested.

“You actually are though.” Rhodey called out.

“Enough. We need to talk about what has been happening.” Okoye halted the discussion. 

“What is happening in Wakanda?” Natasha called out. 

“The Queen and I are working on resuming order. We closed our border again for time in order to organize, with losing both Shuri and TChalla. M’Baku has been helping organize.” Okoye explained. “We lost about 60% of the country, both in the fight with Thanos’ and then the snap.” 

“Can we offer any assistance?” Natasha asked and Okoye shook her head. 

“We have enough here. You focus your efforts on your country.”

“What about the other planets?” Natasha focused on Carol, Natasha and Rocket. 

“They are all dealing with the same problems you are on Earth.” Carol replied. “I have been to five different planets, and they have all been divided in half. He did indeed impact the entire universe.” Carol replied.

“Boss, Peter is awake and in distress.” FRIDAY called out.

 Tony and Pepper both stood up and the others shooed them out of the room. They hurried down towards the room that they had left Peter in and could see him sitting up on the couch with his head in his hands. There were sobs escaping from his mouth as the two adults hurried over to him. Tony pulled his arm around Peter’s shoulder as he sat down on the couch with him, and Peter leaned into him, his hands still covering his face as the sobs continued to erupt from him. Tony just looked at Pepper whose eyes were sad and soft as she looked at Peter. 

-

“Do you have everything that you want from here? We aren’t coming back to the Compound for a while.” Tony heard Pepper asking Harley in the other room while he gathered things together from the kitchen. 

“I don’t really have much here Pepper. It’s all at the Tower.” Harley replied. 

“Have you seen Peter?” Pepper asked.

“He’s sitting on his balcony.” Harley replied. 

Tony set down the mugs he had in his hands, and headed towards Peter’s room. He opened the door to see the boys’ balcony door open and walked out onto the balcony. Peter was sitting there, staring up towards the blue, cloudless sky.

“Hey kid.” Tony said as he sat down next to him. Peter grunted his greeting but didn’t look at Tony. The two of them sat in silence for a little while before Peter turned to Tony. Tony turned his head to look at the teenager. 

“It’s my birthday tomorrow.” Peter said.

“It is.”

“I don’t want to do anything.” Peter stated and Tony nodded.

“That’s okay if you don’t. I know Pepper got you some gifts though.” Tony replied, not needing to say that he had also had input in those gifts for Peter. 

“Did you help with those?” Peter asked and Tony smiled slightly. 

“Some of them. But most of them were all her.” Tony replied. 

“It’s my first birthday without May.” Peter continued. He tore his eyes away from Tony to look back up at the sky. “And MJ. Last year we all got together with Ned, and May tried to cook dinner. She failed again.” 

“Do you want to invite Ned to the Tower? I can let Happy know and he can bring him.” Tony asked. 

“I don’t.” Peter shook his head. 

“Are you sure?” Tony asked.

“I’ll see him when school starts again.” Peter replied before he fell silent again. 

The two sat there until Pepper came into the room, looking for them to head to the Tower. Peter grabbed his backpack as they headed down to the lower level where Happy was waiting to drive them back. Rhodey climbed in with them while Natasha stayed behind.

“Will you be okay?” Peter asked her as they left. “You’ll be all alone.”

“It’s okay Peter. Steve is going to come and visit me every so often. I’m used to being alone.” Natasha replied. Tony could see that Peter looked troubled at the thought of Natasha being alone. “Really Peter. I’ll be okay.” Natasha assured Peter. 

Peter still looked troubled as Pepper gently guided him into the car next to where Tony was sitting. Peter watched Natasha standing alone as the car pulled away.

“Peter, she really will be okay. We asked if she wanted to come with us, and she said she wanted to stay at the Compound alone.” Pepper assured him. “She knows if she wants to come and join us, we’ll send a car to get her.” 

“I just don’t think anyone should be alone.” Peter said softly. 

“I know honey. But she’ll be alright.” Pepper responded. 

Tony pulled out his phone as the car headed into the city, looking through his emails and responding as needed. Peter was quiet as Harley, Rhodey and Pepper conversed. 

“Are we still going to the Stadium?” Harley asked. The plan had been for the group to head to one of the Stadiums to assist with a planned cleanup. 

“Pete? You still up for the cleanup?” Tony asked Peter who was staring out the window. Peter nodded without moving his eyes from the window. 

Happy drove them to the stadium where there were a number of cars parked there already, and people milling about. Pepper had set up the clean-up, and invited anyone that wanted to assist to join them. Tony knew that beyond the leftover cars being removed from the parking lot that nothing had been done with the stadium after the snap happened during an evening concert. 

The group all piled out of the car as Happy put it in park before heading towards the entrance. Tony put his arm around Peter’s shoulders as they walked, but Peter pulled away from him and walked quickly away from him. Tony felt the hurt flow through him as Peter pulled away and he let his arm fall down to his side, but he did his best not to let it show on his face. He apparently didn’t succeed because Pepper came over to him with a sympathetic look on her face.

“He’s just hurting.” She said softly to Tony as they watched Harley approach Peter and talk to him, before they both followed Happy and Rhodey into the stadium.

“I know.” Tony replied.

“He loves you.” Pepper replied, as the two of them headed into the stadium entrance. Tony nodded as they looked around the stadium. There was garbage strewn about the ground and the seats as well as various items of clothing and belongings. 

“Oh gosh.” Pepper commented at the mess. She and Tony moved over to where one of the stairs led up to the seats before they grabbed some garbage bags and began to pick up items. 

Tony wasn’t sure how long they walked around but at some point Happy let them know that Peter wanted to leave, and he was going to take him to the Tower. Tony nodded in acknowledgment as he debated if he should go with them until Happy said Peter wanted to be alone. Pepper but they eventually bumped into Harley who was standing with his back to them.

“Harley? Are you okay?”

Harley turned around slowly and held out his hand to Tony who looked down. The teenager was holding a stuffed Iron Man toy, that looked worn and well-loved. 

“Oh.” Pepper gasped as they looked down at the toy. 

Tony took it from Harley, his heart thudding in his chest as he looked at the stuffed toy. The toy was a small teddy bear decked out in an Iron Man outfit with the head uncovered. He remembered when these toys had been released because Peter had been absolutely delighted with it, and Tony had gotten the soft toy for Peter, Ned and MJ. He had also sent one to Harley for his sister, a toy that Tony knew was in Harley’s room at The Tower. There were tears forming in Harley’s eyes as he looked at the toy that Tony know held in his hands. Before Tony could do anything, Pepper reached over to Harley and pulled him into a hug. Harley reciprocated the hug and Tony heard him start crying. Pepper just hugged him even tighter as Tony stood there, feeling helpless. 

“Boss.” Happy said as he walked over to their little huddle. 

“Hap.” Tony greeted.

“I dropped Peter at the Tower and he just texted me that he left.” 

“Where did he go?” Tony asked. “He knows he’s not allowed to leave alone.” 

“It says he went to one of Steve’s sessions.” Happy replied. “How did he even know where those are?”

“Kids’ too smart for his own good.” Pepper replied over Harley’s head. “Go get him.” 

Tony headed towards the exit with Happy to head back to the car to leave the stadium. As they got in the car, Tony pulled out his phone to text Peter.

_ Tony: Hey kid, you alright? _

_ Peter: I know you know where I am _

_ Tony: I’m on my way there now. Can you stay there? _

_ Peter: Yes _

Tony put his phone away as Happy drove them towards the building where Steve had his counselling sessions. He hadn’t mentioned them to Peter before but he wasn’t entirely surprised that the teenager knew where they were and had gone there. 

Once they got to the building Tony got out of the car and headed into the building while Happy stayed in the car. Tony walked down the hallway to where he could hear voices coming from one of the rooms, and he slipped into the back of the room. Steve was sitting at the head of the circle and Tony could see Peter sitting to his left, and 7 other people in the room.

“Everyone talks about how we have to move on, but it’s only been 5 months. It seems like they could just come back walking into the room any minute, it hasn’t really sunk in. I don’t know how I can possibly move on when I keep thinking that my wife could just walk back in.” One of the men was talking as he wiped at his eyes and Peter was looking at him.

“It is possible.” Peter chimed up and all eyes turned to him, Tony’s included. 

“Peter?” Steve asked.

“It is possible. Um, I lost my aunt and one of my friends in the snap but before that, I lost my uncle and my parents. Each time I thought I would never get over it, but I did. Each time it was very sudden and unexpected like the snap, but I always got through it somehow.”

“How?” The first man asked.

“With the support of others. I didn’t want their help at first and I know I’m not being very easy to be around at the moment, but other people have helped me.” Peter said. His eyes flickered up to where Tony is standing at the back of the room and he smiles slightly at him. 

“What Peter says is true. When I lost my mom, I had my best friend Bucky to look out for me. He might be gone now, along with my other good friend Sam, but he got me through the loss of my mom. Talking to people like you are now is a step towards that. You all have my phone number and I am available at all times. We’ll meet again this time next week, okay?” Steve looked around at the room and the people in the circle all nodded. Tony remained in the back of the room as people exited and then Steve and Peter walked over to him.

“Hey Tony.” Steve said and Tony nodded at him. 

“Steve. Pete.” Tony greeted and was surprised by Peter leaning into his arm. He adjusted so that he could put an arm about Peter’s shoulder and pull him closer into him. Steve looked down at them both sadly.

“Do we have to go back to the Stadium?” Peter asked Tony who shook his head.

“We don’t. Happy’s outside and he can take us back to the Tower if you want.” Peter nodded at Tony’s suggestion and he started to steer him out the door after saying goodbye to Steve and heading out of the building.

“Did that help? I know I only caught the end of that, but did that help?” Tony asked Peter as they climbed back into the car and Happy pulled away.

“It did.” Peter nodded.

“Would it help to keep going? We can find you someone else, but would you rather go to a group counselling with Steve?” Tony looked at Peter who looked at the ground.

“You think I should talk to someone.” 

“Both Pepper and I do kid. We don’t like that you’re having nightmares and we do think that you should talk to someone, whether it be someone neutral or someone like Steve that you know.” Tony suggested.

“I know I’m making life difficult and waking you and Pepper and Harley up.” Peter mumbled.

“Pete, kid. That’s not it. You are not making life difficult and I know Pepper would happily tell you how many times I’ve woken her up with nightmares in the past.” Tony put a hand under Peter’s chin to make the teenager look at him. “We just want you to be able to talk to someone. I wouldn’t have recommended Steve before but I know Sam helped him in the past.”

“Can I think about it?” Peter asked and Tony nodded.

“Of course. Just let Pepper or I know.” Tony responded. “We’ll support whatever you decide you want to do, and we’ll always be there to help you through any nightmares.”

-

“Hey kid. Happy Birthday.” Tony walked into the teenagers room slowly to see Peter facing the wall with his back to him. There was no response but FRIDAY had informed Tony that Peter was awake, so Tony knew he was being ignored. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put a hand on Peter’s shaking back. The kid let out a strangled noise followed by what sounded like a sob. Tony leaned over Peter to try to see the kids’ face and saw the red eyes and wet cheeks.

“Oh kid.” Tony sighed and Peter took another strangled breath. “Can you take a deep breath?” Tony asked and Peter shook his head. 

“Yes you can Pete. I need you to try.” Tony suggested. Peter shook his head so Tony reached over to pull him up. The teenager went willingly, and Tony adjusted him so that Peter was sitting up against the wall with Tony next to him. Tears were running down Peter’s face but he didn’t bother trying to wipe them away, just letting them drip off his face onto the shirt he was wearing. His breaths eased up a little now that he was sitting up which relieved Tony, and he rubbed the kids’ arm. 

“Can you talk to me?” Tony asked. 

“I just- just miss her. She’s been at every one of my birthdays for as long as I can remember. Even before I lost my parents.” Peter mumbled. “It- it just feels wrong for her not to be here. She’s always- always been here.” 

“What did you normally do on your birthday?” Tony asked him.

“She cooked and then we would watch movies all day. Normally we’d end up ordering take-out once her cooking burned.” 

“Well I’m pretty sure Pepper is cooking and she doesn’t normally burn anything. And Harley is out there, and will eat everything unless we go out there.” Tony said smiling slightly at Peter. The teenager didn’t smile back but nodded as he pushed away from Tony to move off the bed and head to the bathroom. Tony stayed on the bed until Peter came back out of the bathroom, and headed to his dresser to pull on a long sleeved shirt. 

“You good to go out there? I think Rhodey and Happy are out there too.” Tony asked, not wanting Peter to get overwhelmed, and Peter nodded. The two of them headed out into the common area where Happy, Pepper, Harley and Rhodey were all waiting. Pepper gave Peter a hug before she reached over to hand him a plate of food and then one to Tony. Tony led Peter over to one of the couches and watched as Peter picked at the food. Pepper sat down in the chair opposite them and shared a concerned look with Tony. 

“So kid, there was a suggestion for a gift for you but we wanted to run it by you first.” Tony glanced at Pepper again and she nodded and Tony knew she understood what he was getting at.

“I don’t want any gifts.” Peter replied. He set down the plate of food on the table in front of him and Tony noted that he had only eaten one bite of the scrambled eggs.

“I know, but we did all get you gifts anyways. But this is a different gift.” Tony replied. “We were thinking of getting you a dog.”

“I want a dog!” Harley called out and Happy whacked him in the shoulder.

“A dog?” Peter asked.

“Or a cat. We can get whatever you would like Peter.” Pepper suggested. 

“Get a dog. Cats are assholes.” Harley chirped up again.

“Harley.” Pepper said before looking at Peter again. “Peter?”

“A dog.” Peter said softly and there was silence in the room for a few moments before Rhodey cleared his throat.

“So Tony said no gifts but I still got you something.” Rhodey reached behind him and pulled a box towards them and held it out to Peter. Peter took the box and stared at it for a few minutes before he started to unwrap it. 

“I actually got it last year when I was in China. Tony said you like legos and it’s a Great Wall of China set. You don’t have to build it if you don’t want to though.” Rhodey explained.

“Thank you Rhodey.” Peter said.

“I also got you something but mine isn’t as good as the Great Wall.” Happy said as he handed over a bag. Peter pulled a box of Star Wars lego out and set the box down quickly. 

“Pete?” Tony asked.

“I can’t. I can’t- nothing with space.” Peter stammered as he pushed the box away from him. “I’m sorry Happy. I’m really sorry.”

“No I’m sorry kid. I didn’t even think.” Happy said, looking apologetic. Tony shifted over on the couch to put his arm around Peter, who turned his face into Tony’s shoulder and began to cry again. Pepper stood up and walked over to sit down next to Peter and rubbed her hand down the teenagers’ back as he sobbed into Tony’s shoulder. 

The group all sat in silence as Peter continued to cry. It took a few minutes before he grew heavy against Tony and his breathing evened out. Tony carefully pulled the teenagers face away from his shoulder and saw that Peter’s swollen eyes were closed, and he was limp in Tony’s hand. Tony carefully put Peter’s head back on his shoulder and the kid continued to sleep.

“Is he okay?” Harley asked.

“Just asleep again but he’s alright.” Tony replied.

“Tony, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about the Space thing. I just know the kid loves Star Wars.” Happy said apologetically. He looked devastated as he looked at the sleeping teenager on Tony’s shoulder. Tony shook his head.

“None of us even considered that. I didn’t even think about how that might affect him.” Tony admitted. 

“Do you want to put him back in his bed?” Pepper asked and Tony shook his head.

“He’s okay here. This way we’re here when he wakes up. We can take him to get a dog later or tomorrow if he’s not feeling up to it.”

“What about the rest of the gifts you two got him?” Rhodey asked.

“I’ll put them away. If he wants them later on, we can get them back out but I don’t think he will.” Pepper sighed. 

“Maybe just save them for next year.” Harley suggested. 

\--

“So we have a lot of animals here. Some of them were here before the Snap, but then a lot more came in after the Snap. There’s hundreds of dogs and cats but we do also have guinea pigs, rabbits, snakes, and even a pig.” The shelter employee explained as Pepper, Peter, Happy, Harley and Tony all stood in the shelter entrance. 

“Are you well provided here? Can we help at all?” Pepper asked. 

“Shelters always need assistance, but we are very overwhelmed here. It’s just me and three others taking care of the animals, and we really rely a lot on donations.” The employee- Melanie- explained.

“We’ll send you assistance within the next few weeks.” Pepper said and Melanie’s eyes filled with tears. 

“Thank you.” Melanie whispered and then cleared her throat. “Do you know what you are looking for?”

“I want the pig.” Harley shot out and Happy whacked his shoulder again and Harley groaned. “I know this is for Peter. But what if I want an animal?”

“Let’s focus on one animal right now Harley. We can look at getting you an animal for your birthday.” Tony suggested before turning to the other teenager who had been silent. “Pete, any ideas?”

“Can I see the dogs?” Peter asked.

“Do you know what size you are looking for?” Melanie asked

“Something medium sized maybe?” Peter asked and Melanie nodded. She motioned to the group to follow her, and they headed down a hallway where there were cages filled with yapping dogs. Peter flinched at the sound and Tony put his arm around him as they walked down. Melanie stopped outside a room where there were dogs running around. She opened the door and motioned for Peter to step in. 

“Can you come in with me?” Peter asked Tony and he nodded as he followed Peter into the room, shutting the door behind him. There were 10 dogs in the room, all rushing around and as Tony and Peter sat down, they were overwhelmed. One of the dogs climbed into Tony’s lap while another one started nipping at his shoulder gently. He pulled the dog from his shoulder and pulled it closer to his face, where the dog licked his nose. Tony put it back down on the floor where it stepped on the dog in his lap in order to get back to his face. He heard a sniffle and looked over to Peter who was sitting on his knees with his arms around a medium sized dog with fluffy, golden fur. 

The teenager had tears running down his cheeks that the dog was trying to lick off as they streamed down and dripped off his face. The dog whoofed slightly as he lapped at Peter’s cheeks and Tony watched as Peter buried his face in the dogs’ fur. His shoulders shook slightly as he wrapped his arms around the dog. Tony put down both dogs in his lap and shifted over to where Peter was, to put an arm on his back. Peter lifted his head out of the dogs fur to look at Tony, the tears still coming down.

“Hey kid. Is this the one you want?” Tony asked and Peter nodded. Tony looked up to see Melanie standing there and he motioned towards Peter. She nodded and held up a collar and leash. Tony pulled Peter to his feet and they headed out the door to the rest of the shelter where Melanie leaned down to put the collar and leash on the fluffy dog. 

“She’s been here since before the Snap. There was a family who was interested but then the Snap happened and only the father survived and he didn’t want her anymore.” Melanie explained. 

“She’s so sweet.” Pepper said as the dog licked her hands happily. “How old is she?”

“We aren’t sure, but we think she’s about 2 or 3.” Melanie replied. 

“Does she have a name?” Pepper asked as she watched Harley and Peter playing with the dog. Peter still had tears running down his face occasionally.

“May.” Melanie replied and Peter instantly burst into sobs again.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dogs' name wasn't even meant to be May, I was going to have Peter call him Ben but then I changed that as I was writing the chapter.
> 
> As usual, please let me know what you think. :) It won't be so long for the next chapter and we will see something major happen in that next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one didn't really come to me that easily this time but I hope it's still enjoyable. 
> 
> Also, let me just say- I have never written a story that is so complex and long, and I have to keep going back and checking on what I've already written to see if there are certain things that I have touched on yet, or not. So if there is anything I ever repeat, I apologize and please let me know!

**Chapter 9- End of August 2018 (Still 3 months post snap)**

“Peter Parker! You had better get that dog to be quiet, or she is going back.” Tony called out as he walked into the living area and heard the barking, along with the laughter of Harley and Peter.

“Oh please. Empty threat.” Peter called back and Pepper, who was walking next to Tony laughed. 

“Why does no one respect me?” Tony asked.

“Because you are the softest one with that dog. Don’t think I didn’t see you lying down with her last week.” 

Peter laughed at Pepper’s comment, highly aware that Tony had been lying down with the dog on multiple occasions. May had been missing her doggy pals at the shelter and on the times that Peter was actually able to sleep, he knew Tony had been coming in and taking May away before she could wake him with her fussing, Friday’s recordings and Harley bumping into Tony one night were proof of that.

May whoofed slightly under Peter’s hand on her head and he smiled down at her. It had only been 2 weeks with her but now he couldn’t imagine his life without her. She did remind him of her aunt anytime her name was mentioned but Peter had vetoed changing the name when Tony had asked him as soon as they left the shelter. 

“What are you going to do when we go to school next week?” Harley asked Peter as he lay down and petted May’s fluffy back. She pulled her head away from Peter’s hand to lick at Harley’s face as he slightly pushed her back.

“She stays at the Tower!” Pepper called out before Peter could say anything. He looked at Tony who nodded.

“I don’t argue with her. The dog stays here.”

“But she’ll be so bored.” Peter protested. He knew he wouldn’t win the argument and May shouldn’t come to school with him anyways, but it was fun to mess with Tony.

“No she won’t. She’ll be fine.”

“And she’ll be hanging out with you in the lab right?” Harley asked Tony.

“Not at all.” Tony replied and Pepper, Harley and Peter all scoffed.

“I saw that dog bed in there honey.” Pepper grinned.

“Just because there’s a dog bed in there, doesn’t mean she’ll be in there.” Tony responded.

“Okay hon-,” Pepper cut off as she suddenly paled and put a hand over her mouth before rushing out of the room. Tony sighed and Peter frowned. This was the third time that week that Pepper had done that, and that was only the times that Peter had seen. He had heard Tony and Pepper arguing about her going to see a doctor and Pepper refusing as the doctors were needed for people who were actually sick. Tony walked out of the room after her, and Peter could see how worried he looked.

“Dude, do you think there’s a chance Pepper is pregnant?” Harley asked and Peter swung around to look at him in shock. May was lying down with her head on Harley’s shoulder as he played with her ears.

“What?” Peter asked, completely dumbfounded.

“I mean, she’s been getting sick a lot. It could be that.” Harley suggested. He looked at Peter’s face and grinned. “Did you not even consider that?”

“No.” Peter answered. “I just- that’s weird to think about.” 

Harley’s grin grew wider and Peter reached over to shove his shoulder, May protesting as he did so.

“Stop grinning!” Peter replied as he pet May’s head. She jumped away from Harley as he pushed himself off the floor and straight over to Peter’s face. 

Harley tried to straighten his face as Peter glared at him. 

“I’m sorry. But I might not be wrong.” 

Tony came striding in a moment later, reaching over the table to grab his jacket. Peter heard a jingle as his keys moved around in his pocket.

“Tony?” Harley called out and the man looked over at them.

“I’m taking her to the doctor.” Tony replied.

“How’s she taking that?” Harley asked.

“I’m not waiting any longer.” Tony answered.

“Hey Tony- do you think-” Harley stopped as Peter poked him in his side.

“What?” Tony asked, and Harley shook his head.

“Nevermind.”

“Just let us know when you find out?” Peter asked and Tony nodded.

“Can I trust you two to stay here? No escapades while we’re gone?” Tony looked worried and Peter nodded quickly. He was feeling cooped up in The Tower but he knew it wasn’t super safe in the city yet and he didn’t want to make Tony any more worried. Not to mention that Peter was concerned about Pepper himself.

“Harley?” Tony asked.

“I’ll be good.” Harley replied seriously and Tony nodded.

“I have my phone and if I don’t respond and you need something, call Rhodey. He’s around this week.” Tony instructed and walked out the door. Peter’s enhanced hearing caught him heading down the hallway and then Pepper’s voice as they headed down the elevator. 

“Movie?” Harley asked and Peter nodded.

The two of them were 3 movies in when Peter heard Tony and Pepper coming in. They headed straight for their bedroom and despite his attempts, Peter could hear their voices, and found himself latching onto their conversation.

“Pep, I can’t do this.” 

“Of course you can. You have to. I have to. We don’t have a choice. I thought you wanted a child, you had that dream about a child called Morgan.”

“I do Pep. I do. But that was before Thanos and half the world disappearing. We absolutely can’t bring a child into a world like this.”

Peter gasped and Harley looked up at him, curiosity showing on his face. Peter shook his head and Harley shrugged as he went back to the tv. 

“How are we supposed to raise a kid in the world we live in?”

“We already are raising two kids?”

“Pepper, that’s different. Those two are already teenagers.”

“They may be teenagers but you’ve known Peter for 3 years already, and you’ve known Harley since he was much younger. You’ve helped shape those two.”

“I’m not their father Pepper. I left Harley, and I’ve made some poor choices with Peter.”

“I think if I went and asked either of those boys, they would say that you are at least their father-figure even if they won’t actually say it. Harley never had that, and Peter didn’t after he lost his uncle. You’ve filled a void in both their lives, and I know you can do this. You are not your father Tony and I think both boys would agree if we asked them.”

“How can I protect you and this baby from threats? I don’t know how to do that.”

“I can protect myself if need be, and you just do what you normally do. Start building something that I’ll disagree with and you’ll ignore me and do it anyways.” 

There was laughter in Pepper’s voice as she said that, and Peter found himself smiling. Harley gave him a weird look and Peter just shook his head again.

“Seriously dude, why are you smiling?” Harley asked.

“Pepper and Tony are back.” Peter replied.

“And that’s making you smile, because…?”

Peter sighed as he figured he might as well tell Harley.

“Pepper’s pregnant.” 

“I knew it!” Harley replied happily and then looked suspiciously at Peter. “Are you using your powers to listen to them?”

“Yes.” Peter replied. “But you can’t tell them I heard what they were just talking about!” He added hurriedly as he heard footsteps heading towards them. His emotions were swirling inside of him and he couldn’t quite understand how he was feeling about the fact that Pepper was pregnant, the bitter emotion that was inside was rising to the top.  

Pepper and Tony walked into the room and both Peter and Harley smiled at them.

“Do you know already?” Tony sighed.

“I guessed.” Harley called out. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It’s too early to tell that. I’m only about 2 months along.” Pepper replied. 

“Congratulations!” Harley got up to give Pepper a hug, which she reciprocated. Peter remained where he was on the ground, staring at May as he pet her. 

“Pete?” Tony called out after a moment and Peter pulled his eyes up to look at her. The bitterness was overwhelming him and confusing him and he tried his best to smile. Tony gave him a concerned look so he assumed that it didn’t look genuine. 

“Congratulations. I’m going to take May outside.” He said. Tony had installed a room for May that consisted of toys and fake grass for her to use as her bathroom when she couldn’t go outside, which was fairly often. 

Peter grabbed May’s collar and pushed her out of the room, leaving Tony, Harley and Pepper behind. As he rounded the corner, the tears started to flow and he angrily tried to swipe at them as May surged ahead. He hurried after her and when he reached the dog room, he shut the door quickly behind him and then sat against it. 

“Why am I so upset about this?” Peter muttered to himself as May rushed around. She grabbed 3 of her toys and placed them all in Peter’s lap then stood expectedly waiting for him to throw one. Peter grabbed the tennis ball and threw it for her. It bounced along the outrageously large room and she chased after it, tail wagging furiously. 

There was a knock on the door as May bounded back to Peter, to drop the tennis ball in her lap.

“Peter?” That was Harley’s voice and Peter moved away from the door to let Harley in.

The other teenager walked in and shut the door behind him. He took one look at Peter’s face and sat down next to him.

“I feel the same way.” Harley said and Peter looked at him. “You’re upset. I’m upset too.”

“I’m not upset.” Peter protested and Harley just looked at him.

“Why are you crying then?”  Peter didn’t reply and Harley sighed. May grabbed her tennis ball and threw it at Harley, who grabbed it and threw it for her. 

“I’m jealous too.” Harley said. “This kid is going to grow up with wonderful parents. I didn’t get that. Sure, my mom is- was- great but you know about my dad. I would have loved to have someone like Tony before he appeared in my life, and Pepper is going to be a wonderful mom.”

Peter could only look at Harley as he talked, afraid to open his mouth and completely break down. He took a deep breath before he said anything, Harley staring at him. 

“I think I’m jealous too.” Peter said and Harley nodded. “But I have no right to be. I had my parents and then I had Ben and May.” 

“Yeah but you lost them all. Unless Tony does something stupid which isn’t completely off the table, this kid isn’t going to lose Pepper or Tony. They’ll grow up with two great parents.” Harley replied. 

“This is so unfair of me to be jealous.” Peter repeated. He knew it wasn’t fair of him to be jealous of a child that wasn’t even born yet but he couldn’t help it. It made sense for Harley to be jealous about Tony but Peter had always had the support and love of multiple people. More tears poured down his face as he tried to swipe them away.

“I think it’s okay for us to be a bit jealous, but we do also have to look forward, you know? We both lost everyone but life moves on, right? And a child is definitely the sign of a new beginning and new life.” Harley said.

“I don’t think you’ve ever said anything so profound.” Peter said hiccupping a little as he tried to stem his tears.

“I take insult to that.” Harley replied jokingly before his face turned serious again. “But it’s true isn’t it? When my dad left, my mom said that we had to keep living and moving on, and I think that rings true here too.”

“It does.” Peter replied. 

“Of course you have more experience in that than I do.” Harley said. “Not that’s it any sort of competition. Sorry, that wasn’t the right comment to make there.”

Peter laughed despite himself as Harley stared intently at this face before turning to May who whoofed at being ignored and threw the ball for her. 

“Now, what completely useless gifts can we get Tony and Pepper?” Harley asked changing the subject and asking Friday to open a file that only he and Peter could access. “Tony gave you a credit card right?”   
Peter nodded.   
“He gave me one too, so let’s use it to buy anything ridiculous we can for them. I think some of the stores are open again, and we can totally check.”

-

“I’m impressed that you got Tony to let us come on the train.” Harley said to Peter as the two of them sat on the train to Midtown. It was the first day the school was open since the Snap and Harley was joining Peter for their junior year. Tony had been on the phone with the school repeatedly over the last week to make sure that Harley was all set, and to make sure Peter was on the returning students list as well. The school had sent over their class schedules a few days before and both boys had them shoved into their backpacks.

Tony had given Peter a Spiderman backpack as a joke, but he had refused to accept it. He didn’t want to be reminded of Spiderman at all, and the man had relented and given Peter a plan blue backpack instead.

 Ned had been texting Peter incessantly the night before about how nervous he was and Peter shared the sentiment. He knew MJ wouldn’t be there and that most of the Decathlon team was gone, but he didn’t even know about the rest of the school.

“I just wanted something to be normal.” Peter replied. The trains had only started running the week before again, and for a train that would have normally been completely jam packed, there were only 6 other people in the carriage with them.

“I’m sure he’s tracking us on the watches.”

“No doubt. I thought about leaving it at home.” Harley grinned.

“You realize he probably would have come to the school to give it to you.” Peter replied.

The train reached the Midtown stop and Harley and Peter got off, along with three others from different carriages. The school grounds were normally packed with students arriving but there were only scattered groups around, and barely any conversations happening.

As Peter glanced around, he noticed that everyone looked sad or withdrawn and there were hardly any smiles from anyone that was milling around.

“Peter. Harley!” Ned joined the two teenagers, turning around to wave goodbye to his dad who had dropped him off. The three stood just outside the doors of the school, looking at the entrance.

“I guess we should go in then?” Ned suggested and the other two nodded.

“Chemistry first, right?” Harley asked as the three walked through the doors. The hallways were hardly occupied, only scattered students at lockers.

They headed to their new assigned lockers, all of them near each other as the school wanted to keep students as close together as possible, leaving whole hallways of lockers empty. The three teenagers had most of their classes together with a free period in the middle of the day after lunch.

After throwing their backpacks in the lockers, Peter and Ned led Harley to where the Chemistry classroom was and they entered. Their chemistry teacher was standing there, and Peter was really glad to see her and know she hadn’t been snapped, as he really liked her. She smiled when she saw Ned and Peter, and greeted Harley and welcomed him, before telling them to sit anywhere. There were only 6 other people in the classroom, 2 of them Peter recognized with one of them being Abraham from Decathlon.

“Hey guys.” He greeted them as they sat down.

“It’s great to see you.” Ned replied and Peter nodded.

“So we’re the only ones from the team left. Us and Mr. Harrington. Everyone else is gone.” Abraham said and Peter sighed.

“Which definitely means no more Decathlon.” Ned replied.

“I think Mr. Harrington is going to try to get a team together. Most of the teachers are trying to get things back to normal as much as possible.” Abraham replied.

The teacher- Mrs Sampson- drew their attention to the board then and Abraham turned around to face the front. Peter sat down next to Ned with Harley behind them.

“Since you are all assembled from different classes, I am just going to use today to see where we are all at, okay? This is going to be a learning experience for all of us, but I am very glad to see all of you sitting in front of me after what has happened.” She smiled as she looked at each student in turn. Peter half-smiled back at her when she looked at him, before she moved her gaze to Ned.

Peter pulled out his notebook, opening it to a blank page as she started writing different items on the board. He didn’t have any idea where his notebook with all of his Spiderman formulas was, that backpack lost when he jumped out of the bus before the trip to Space. The formulas only really made sense to him so he wasn’t really concerned that someone might potentially find it.

“As you can see, I have written balancing equations, acids/bases, states of matter, chemical formulas and naming compounds on the board here- Ned, are you alright?”

Peter looked over at his best friend as the teacher said his name and was shocked to see that Ned was crying.

“Ned?” He asked as Ned shook his head.

“I’m sorry- I’m okay.” Ned got out

“Do you want to go out of the classroom, or are you okay staying in here?” Mrs Sampson asked.

“I’m good to stay. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize Ned. It’s okay. Just let me know if you think you need to leave.”

Peter put his hand on Ned’s shoulder as the tears kept rolling down his face.

“Are you okay?”

“This is just so different. So many people gone. It just sucks.” Ned replied and Peter squeezed his shoulder before pulling his hand away. He could feel the misery rising in his chest but he fought it down as he tried to concentrate on the teacher. He knew if he focused on the misery that it would erupt and he wouldn’t be as quiet as Ned about it.

Peter made it all the way to lunch before he couldn’t keep the misery down anymore and the tears came as he was sitting in the cafeteria with Peter, Abraham and Harley. The lunchroom was subdued and there were plenty of completely empty tables. It seemed like no one cared about sitting alone or secluding themselves and everyone was sitting near one another. The table that the boys sat at that was normally just them and MJ, was completely full. Peter had glanced down the table towards where MJ would sit and the tears hit him then. He set down the fries he was already fiddling with and scrubbed at his eyes with his jacket sleeve.

“Oh.” Ned said and when Peter looked at him, he could see the tears in his eyes as well.

“Can I do anything?” Harley asked and the other two shook their heads.

“Our friend MJ normally sat down there. There was a time that she didn’t even talk to us, but we became friends even if she wouldn’t always really sit by us.” Ned explained and Harley nodded.

“I’ve heard that name a few times. Tony said she was Peter’s girlfriend.”

“What?” Peter sputtered and Harley smiled.

“He also refers to her as scary girl.”

“She was not my girlfriend!” Peter protested. “Tony is the worst.”

-

“ _ And in other news today, F3 tornadoes struck across Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas today. The warning systems haven’t been repaired in Nebraska and Oklahoma since they were damaged after the Snap which certainly contributed to the amount of deaths as not many people were aware of the tornadoes. For anyone who is not aware of the tornado ranking system, it goes from and F0 to F5, and an F3 brings winds of 158-206 mph. With these winds strength, trees get uprooted, and roofs can be torn off houses as well as cars being lifted off the ground. As of right now, we have reports that 15 people died in Nebraska and an additional 20 in Oklahoma while it sounds like only 2 in Texas as their warning system was working and went off in time to give people time to shelter. It is very unnatural for tornadoes to strike so strongly in this part of the year as the most active tornadoes end in June but as scientists and others who have been studying the effects of the Snap, any weather pattern could happen at any time until there is more understanding on the effects of the Incident. For now, the government is deploying as much assistance as they can to these states to assist with clean-up, and to help those affected find new housing. Housing that is already tight with clean-up from the Snap still happening. We will keep you updated on this ongoing situation. For now-“ _

“We’re sending assistance there.” Tony’s voice came from behind Peter and he muted the tv to look around. Peter was sitting in the living room area of their floor by himself watching the news report. Harley had been with him but he had taken May and gone down to his floor, Peter willingly letting the dog go.

“Stark Industries is.” Tony motioned at the tv that Peter had just muted, the screen showing pictures from the tornadoes.

“It seems like such a weird time for tornadoes to hit.” Peter commented.

“It’s like what that reporter said, no one really knows the after effects of the snap and how it changed everything, weather patterns included.” Tony replied. He moved in to sit on the couch next to Peter and looked at him.

“Yes?” Peter asked.

“Can we talk for a moment?” Tony asked and Peter nodded.

“So the other day when I gave you that Spiderman backpack, you got extremely pale.” Tony stared at Peter who focused on looking at the couch, pulling at a loose thread.

“You haven’t really mentioned Spiderman and I’ve been waiting for you to bring it up, but now I am. Mostly because of your reaction to that, and also because Natasha has been asking about the team and putting it together again. You are part of that team.”

Peter still didn’t say anything and Tony sighed. He reached under Peter’s chin, and pulled his chin up. Peter didn’t struggle as he moved his chin but he still couldn’t look Tony in the eyes. He hadn’t told Tony that he didn’t want anything to do with Spiderman, but apparently the man wasn’t going to let him keep that a secret.

“Talk to me kid. What are your feelings about Spiderman right now?”

“I-“ Peter started and then stopped, finally meeting Tony’s eyes. The man just nodded encouragingly at him but didn’t say anything.

“I don’t want to be Spiderman. I can’t. I don’t think I can ever get into the suit ever again.” Peter confessed. He really didn’t think he could. The nightmares were bad enough as they were, he didn’t think he would be able to get inside the suit he was in when he failed to stop Thanos, and prevent the Snap by failing to get the gauntlet off.

“That’s okay Pete. If you don’t want to step into it for now, take your time.” Tony replied.

“I don’t know if I ever will.” Peter responded.

“And that’s okay as well Pete. Whatever works for you, there is absolutely no pressure.” Tony poked Peter in his side and he looked up at him again. “But if I know you, Spiderman will be back. You love the people of Queens too much.”

“I don’t think that’s true this time.” Peter replied. “I just don’t think I can be him Tony. I just don’t think I can put that suit back on.”

“Kid, that’s absolutely no problem. I support you in whatever choice you want to make, and I will support you if that choice ever changes.” Tony wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulder and hugged him closer to him.

“Are you going to go out as Iron Man?” Peter asked him as they sat there.

“I’m not sure yet. Not on anything crazy dangerous but if I can assist and I am needed, I might.” Tony replied, not relinquishing his hold on Peter.

“You know something?” Peter asked and Tony hummed.

“What?”

“You’re much more affectionate than you used to be.” Peter commented. He had noticed it a lot since the two of them had come back from Space but hadn’t really mentioned it.

“I am.” Tony agreed.

“Why?” Peter asked. There was silence for a moment and he wondered if Tony was going to answer the question.

“In case you haven’t noticed Pete, I have a tendency to keep people at an arm’s length until I trust them. I’ve always trusted you, mostly, but it’s safe to say that almost losing you changed things a bit. I love you and you’re my kid.”

Tears sprung into Peter’s eyes again and he shifted away from Tony’s arms to wipe them away.

“Oh Pete.” Tony sighed as Peter turned away from him.

“I love you too.” Peter choked out as the tears once again spilled over and started running down his cheeks.

“I’m so lucky to have you kid.” Tony said as he yanked Peter back towards him. “You know that? You and Pepper and Rhodey and Happy and Harley. I’m so lucky to have you all still here, even after that happened. We’re a family now. And speaking of family, this baby that’s going to be joining us.”

Peter looked up at Tony’s face, guilt immediately flooding him.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing exactly?” Tony asked after studying him for a moment.

Peter sighed heavily before opening his mouth again. Tony had been uncharacteristically open with Peter, and he deserved Peter being honest with him.

“Because you and Pepper are having a child and it’s a good thing but I couldn’t really feel anything except jealousy.” Peter explained.

“Why are you jealous?” Tony asked.

“Because this baby will have you and Pepper as their parents. And Happy and Rhodey will be there.” Peter explained. “You’ll be their dad and Pepper will be their mom and Happy and Rhodey basically their uncles. And you will be getting a kid, and you’ll be such a good dad and Pepper will be such a good mom, and this must be something you both wanted, so I have zero right to be jealous-.”

“Pete.” Tony cut him off and Peter looked back at him. “Since you and Harley knew when we walked in, I’m guessing you heard mine and Peppers’ conversation right?”

“I didn’t mean to.” Peter said guiltily.

“It’s okay. But then you’d know that this wasn’t something that was entirely planned. This world we currently live in where tornadoes can occur at any time, and where half the population is missing, isn’t exactly the best world to bring a child into, and given the choice I wouldn’t, but here we are.”

“You’re going to make a great dad Tony. You really will.” Peter tried to reassure the man.

“Why are you saying it like that? I’m already a dad kid.” Tony replied.

“What?” Peter asked.

“You and Harley Pete. I know I’m not either of your biological dads, but you are pretty much my kids. Pepper definitely made me realize that the other day.” 

“You think of me like that?” Peter asked. He had always looked to Tony as a father-figure, not that he had ever told the man that, and he didn’t know Tony looked at him like that.

“Yes.” Tony replied. “I wish you hadn’t lost your parents, or your uncle, or May for that matter, because that is too much for one person to lose especially at your age, but it brought you to me, and for that I can only be thankful.”

Peter took a breath, trying to get his uneven breathing back under control. This was not how he had seen this conversation going when Tony sat down and his heart was pounding, the conversation and the mention of May starting to push him over the edge.

“You’re alright.” Tony said softly and Peter nodded.

“It’s just a lot.”

“It is. I went from zero kids to two, and now a third coming soon. That’s a lot.”

Peter tried to laugh but the sound got caught in his throat as he choked slightly.

“Hey. You’re alright kid, just try to take a deep breath.” Tony encouraged him as he slid off the couch to kneel in front of him. Peter’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at Tony and the man’s profile went blurry.

“I’m sorry kid.”

“Not your fault. I just- miss May so much.” Peter blubbered out.

“I know kid. I know.” Tony replied softly. “There’s a lot of that going around. I know Pepper misses her too, and I miss having her around to talk about you behind your back. She was a great woman, and she raised a truly wonderful kid."   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please comment and let me know what you thought, liked, disliked etc; and if there is anything you would like me to touch on. I am constantly changing this outline.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this one, except that it got super wordy. So many words.
> 
> Warning for someone getting sick and throwing up in this chapter.

**September 2018. 6 months beyond the snap**

_Trial Unsuccessful._

“Shit.” Tony swore as the computer simulation once again showed red. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands down his face. The idea of time travel had come to him a few nights previous as he sat watching a movie with Peter and Harley. Peter had been crying again, trying to hide the tears from Tony and Harley but Tony had seen them and he knew Harley had too. 

It had been an emotional day for all of them the day before, with Pepper and Tony deciding that it was time for them to get married. Pepper had informed Tony shortly after they found out about the pregnancy, that she had found some land in Upstate New York that she wanted to build a lakehouse at, and that they should get married there as soon as the lakehouse was built. She wanted them to have the opportunity to get away from the city and the compound if the needed to.

Tony had purchased the land and set about getting some workers up there. They had informed him that the structure was already laid for the main house and two guesthouses for if anyone ever came to visit, not that there were that many people to do so, and Pepper and Tony had shared the information about the house and the wedding with Peter and Harley. The boys had been both accepting and sad.

Peter had been sad that May wouldn’t be there to see Pepper and Tony get married as they had gotten close. Tony had promised him that they would have extra, empty chairs to make sure that they honored those who couldn’t be there with them and Peter had cried. Tony had scheduled a fitting for himself, Rhodey, Happy and the boys at his favorite tux shop to get fitted for the wedding that day. He knew he had a little while before that fitting and was waiting for Happy to arrive to pick him up to get the boys from school.  

Peter being upset was really what had made Tony think about the time travel. He didn’t know if it was even something that he could do, if it was something that could be done. He also didn’t know if going back, and changing what had happened was the right thing. He knew it was selfish but he couldn’t lose what he had gained in the last 6 months, and potentially losing this child that Pepper was carrying.

On the other hand, he would give anything to bring back May, and Harley’s family, and Rhodey’s family. He knew how lucky he had been to have them all but he knew so many people weren’t as lucky as him. His heart ached for Peter and Harley whenever they got upset, his heart ached for Rhodey whenever he mentioned his mom, and his heart ached when he thought about the kids without parents. He knew that if he had gone and Peter and Harley had stayed, that they would have been okay and taken care of, but it still ached to even think about it, and what he would be missing out on.

“FRI, reroute the energy to the second chamber and try the simulation again.”

Tony took a drink out of his coffee mug, and waited for the response. The simulation turned red again after a moment as FRIDAY announced the failure and Tony sighed. He was in the back of his workshop, hidden away as he didn’t care much for anyone to see what he was doing. He knew Pepper wouldn’t be happy with him, and he did not want to get either of the teenagers hopes up for something that was very clearly not successful.

He was already concerned about Peter as it was. The teenager wasn’t eating or sleeping as much as he should, and Tony had gone into his room multiple times to see him crying in his sleep. He never woke up when Tony went into the room which he had done on many nights and sat with him for a while. Even if he never woke up, it did seem to soothe Peter a bit, and he would sit with the teen as long as he needed, even if he didn’t know that Tony was there.

He had looked into getting Peter someone to talk to, but the line was extremely long for any remaining professionals as many people were looking for people to talk through their experiences with. In this instance not even Tony’s money could help, and he didn’t really want to take someone away from someone else who needed them. For now, he would just continue to watch Peter and talk to him when he needed.

“FRI, try diverting to chamber six.” He suggested.

_Trial Unsuccessful._

“Shit.” Tony swore again. “Fri, what am I missing here?”

“If I may boss, Time Travel isn’t exactly anything that has been invented yet. I don’t know if even you can invent it.” FRIDAY called out and Tony nodded.

“Fair.”

“Also boss, Peter’s school called and he missed his last two classes.” FRIDAY chimed up and Tony swore again.

“What? Where is he?” He asked, already pulling out his phone to track Peter. His phone buzzed and the screen showed Pepper calling him.

“Hey Pep.” He answered, putting the phone onto speaker and pulling up Peter’s tracker on one of the computer screens.

“Midtown called me and told me Peter missed his last two classes.” She called through the phone.

“FRI let me know. I’m pulling up his tracker right now.” Tony replied. He looked at the screens to see that Peter was in Brooklyn, and he knew instantly what the teenager was doing.

“Do you know where he is?” Pepper asked.

“He’s in Brooklyn. I’m going to venture a guess that he’s with Steve again.” Tony and Steve were friendly again but Tony still didn’t like that Peter had decided to skip school and go to Steve to talk to him, and not Tony.

“Did he walk there?”

“Well he doesn’t have the suit with him so I would guess so.” Tony replied.

“Happy just got here to take you to get the boys and go to the fitting.” Pepper said.

“Tell Happy to go pick up Harley. I’ll go get Pete and bring him to the shop.” Tony answered. He cleared the screen and picked up his phone again, leaving Pepper on speaker. He grabbed his jacket slung over the chair and grabbed a pair of keys before heading down to the garage.

“Happy is heading to get Harley. Are we still going to have family dinner tonight?” Pepper asked.

“Definitely. The fitting shouldn’t take too long. Rhodey has to get back to DC soon so we won’t be long.” Tony replied as he got into one of his more normal cars. Family dinner had been Pepper’s idea, and had happened four nights already. It mostly involved Peter, Pepper, Harley and Tony but Happy had joined twice, and Rhodey had even come one time. With the boys back in school and their clubs they had joined and Pepper and Tony’s work with SI, they weren’t always all together for dinner.

“I’m making Italian tonight. I have a craving so everyone is getting Italian.” Pepper informed him and Tony laughed.

“Sounds good honey.” Tony said and then hung up the phone as he headed out of the garage and towards the address that Peter was at.

He arrived at the VA building that FRIDAY directed him to and parked the car outside before heading in. He walked down the hallway to the end, where there was a shut door. He walked in, and stood at the back of the room, in a similar position to the last time he had found Peter at one of Steve’s sessions. Steve glanced up and saw him but Tony shook his head, not wanting Peter- who was facing the other way from him- to know he was there.

“It just seems hopeless, you know? 6 months gone and I don’t feel like I’ve made any progress. When I lost my uncle, I was doing okay by 6 months, but now I feel like I’m not? Everyone is great and everything, but it does feel quite hopeless somedays.” Peter said and Tony rubbed his eyes.

“I feel the same way. When I lost my brother, I felt like I could function again after a few months but losing my wife, and my children has just made me feel completely frozen in time, something that nothing can ever heal, especially not time.” The man next to Peter said.

“I know it feels like that but just by being here, you are functioning and not frozen in time. I wish more than anything that I could have saved my friends and that we could have won that battle to prevent all of you from what you are experiencing right now. But you are here, and you are not just sitting in misery at your homes. I know that doesn’t seem like much, but it is a big deal. It truly is, and I am proud of all of you for being here. And I’ll see you all again soon?” Steve closed the meeting and Tony moved forward towards him and Peter who was still sitting in the chair. The teenager stiffened up as Tony approached and he knew Peter realized who it was approaching him.

“Hey kid.” Tony said as he put a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Hey.” Peter mumbled back to him and Tony took a step around so he was in front of Peter before kneeling down in front of him. The teenagers eyes were puffy and there were tear streaks down his face.

“Oh kid.” Tony sighed as he wrapped his arms around Peter. Peter reciprocated quickly, throwing his arms around Tony and squeezing tightly. Tony grunted a little at the tightness and Peter let up his arms slightly, letting Tony take a breath.

“I’m sorry.” Peter’s voice was muffled into Tony’s shoulder. “I know I shouldn’t have left school, but I couldn’t be there.”

“It’s okay kid. I’m not mad.” Tony said. The teenager felt warm in his arms and Tony pulled away slightly to bring up a hand to Peter’s forehead.

“You feel warm Pete. Are you feeling okay?” Tony asked and Peter nodded into Tony’s shoulder. “Are you really?”

Steve walked up to them as Peter kept his head on Tony’s shoulder. His arms had loosened up even more around Tony but they were still hugging him.

“Hey Tony.”

“Steve.”

“He just showed up and wouldn’t leave when I suggested it.” Steve looked apologetic and Tony nodded.

“Stubborn.”

“M-not.” Peter mumbled on Tony’s shoulder.

“What was that kid?” Tony asked and Peter finally pulled his head off Tony’s shoulder. Now that Tony could get a better look at him, he looked pale and his eyes were glassy. Tony frowned and put the back of his hand on Peter’s cheek. Peter leaned into it slightly before pulling away again.

“I’m not stubborn.” Peter protested and Tony laughed slightly.

“Yes you are but that’s alright. But Pete-“ Tony made sure that Peter was looking at him before he continued talking. “Maybe give me a heads up that you left school? I know I can track you but I still want to know kid. And you know you can always talk to me about anything. I know Steve can be good at this, but I’m here too, okay?”

Peter nodded.

“I know you are, and I’m sorry. Today just got to be too much.” Peter pulled away from Tony and went to stand up. Tony followed suit and once the two of them were standing up, he put his arm around Peter. He glanced down at his phone and could see Peter’s vitals on there, his temperature showing at 101.5 and a diagnosis of the flu.

“You have a fever Pete.” Tony commented and Peter looked surprised.

“What? I haven’t gotten sick since the bite.” Peter replied.

“Looks like that’s changed there kid. You have the flu.” Tony replied and Peter groaned.

“Do you want to go back to the Tower?” Tony asked and Peter shook his head.

“The tux fitting.”

“We can go another day Pete, if you want to just go lie down.” Tony suggested. They really couldn’t, but he didn’t want Peter doing anything to make the fever worse.

“No, it’s okay. We can go.” Peter said and Tony nodded. They said goodbye to Steve and headed out the building to the car. The shop was on the outskirts of the city, and Tony let the others know they were on their way. Peter climbed into the front seat with his backseat and as Tony pulled out of the spot, he could already see Peter’s eyes drooping closed. The teenager tried to fight it and Tony just reached over with one hand to cover the teenagers eyes.

“Take a nap Pete. It’ll take us at least a half hour to get to the store.”

Peter nodded, and let his head fall against the window. When Tony removed his hand, Peter’s eyes remained closed and he didn’t move again during the trip to the store. When Tony pulled up and turned the car off, Peter’s eyes instantly flew open. He looked panicked as he looked around and Tony reached over to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey. You’re okay. We just got to the store.”

Peter nodded and the panicked look on his face cleared away as he rubbed his eyes.

“FRI?” Tony muttered.

“102.” FRIDAY replied and Tony frowned.

“Are you sure you’re still up for this kid?” Tony asked and Peter nodded slowly. He reached over to open the car door and climbed out as Tony climbed out of his side. There was a loud clanging and Tony looked around to see War Machine landing and Rhodey stepping out.

“Hey Tones. Hey Pete.” He said brightly and then frowned when Peter smiled softly back at him. “You alright?”

“I’m good.” Peter replied and Tony shook his head.

“He’s lying. He has the flu, and a 102 degree fever.”

He walked over to grab a hold of Peter’s shoulder and guided him into the shop with Rhodey following. Harley and Happy were already in there waiting for them. Harley greeted them when they walked in and then frowned at Peter.

“You didn’t look that sick earlier.” Harley commented.

“I’m fine.” Peter protested as Tony guided him to sit down in a chair before turning to the tailor. The man who owned the store had survived as had two of his tailors, one of them being Tony’s preferred tailor who he had been going to for many years, and who Tony had been glad to talk to.

“Can you take care of him, and myself first? He’s sick and I want to get him home.” Tony pointed at Peter and the man nodded. Peter hauled himself up to his feet and was able to get himself to the dressing room to put the suit on as Tony did. The tailor worked quickly and soon Tony and Peter were back in their regular clothes and Peter was sitting back in the chair. As Rhodey, Happy and Harley got fitted, Tony pulled Peter up and out of the chair.

“When are you back in New York Platypus?” Tony asked Rhodey.

“2 weeks. We’re still working on the borders, they won’t be open for some time yet, but it’s a work in progress.” Rhodey replied and Tony nodded.

“As long as you don’t miss the wedding. Pepper would never forgive you.” Tony said.

“Oh, I have seen you two through all of your awkward stages, I would never miss that wedding.” Rhodey scoffed. Tony laughed and pulled Peter through the door back out to the car. He lead Peter around to his side of the car and pushed him down. Peter was quiet underneath him and almost as soon as he sat down, his eyes closed. Tony did up his seatbelt and then headed around to his side of the car.

Peter stayed asleep during the entire ride back to the Tower, and Tony kept the radio off in an effort not to wake him. The teenagers’ fever didn’t increase but 102 was high enough for Tony, so he hoped that stayed the same.  He pulled the car into the garage and turned it off, and this time Peter didn’t even wake up at the lack of movement. Tony just sat and looked at the teenagers’ pale face for a minute before reaching over and shaking Peter awake. The teenager groaned but his eyes opened and focused on Tony.

“Hey. Are you able to get upstairs? We can get you some medicine and you can go back to sleep.”

Peter nodded and went to undo his seatbelt. His hands fumbled and Tony stopped him.

“Just stay there for a minute, okay?” Tony undid Peter’s seatbelt before opening his own door and heading over to Peter’s side. He opened the teenagers’ car door and grabbed a hold of Peter’s arm to pull him out. Peter stumbled a little as he got out, leaning into Tony’s side. Tony shut the door behind him and guided them both over to the elevator. FRIDAY took them up the stairs, and Tony took Peter into his bedroom. He sat Peter on his bed before heading to the bathroom.

“Do not fall asleep on me kid.” Tony called back as he dug around for Peter’s medication. He and Bruce had managed to work it out before Bruce had disappeared before Thanos, and they hadn’t actually had to use it yet. Tony exited the bathroom with medication and a glass of water in hand to find Peter slumped over on the bed, feet still on the floor.

“Kid.” Tony leaned over Peter and shook him until his eyes opened again. “I know you’re tired but I need you to take this medication, okay? And can you eat something for me?” Tony could see the granola bars sitting on Peter’s desk and he shifted over to grab one of them. Peter nodded, his eyes barely open as he took the cup of medicine Tony was holding out to him. He swallowed it and then took two bites out of the granola bar and a sip of the water.

“Get some rest now kid.” Tony said and Peter slumped over before Tony could do anything. He snorted, and gently rearranged Peter so he was lying down properly, before taking off his shoes and throwing a blanket over him before leaving the room.

He entered the common area, with the intent to grab his pad and then go back to sit with Peter, but Pepper sitting on the couch surprised him.

“Hey.” He said as he sat down next to her.

“FRIDAY told me you were with Peter, and he’s sick?” Pepper asked.

“He has the flu.” Tony replied.

“I thought he couldn’t get sick?”

“We were all wrong.” Tony said. “I think it’s more that he hasn’t been sleeping or eating properly and he’s been struggling so much and then this caught him.”

“So no family dinner I’m guessing? You’re staying with him tonight?” Pepper asked and Tony was so grateful for how understanding she was.

“I don’t want to leave him alone in there when he’s sick. You and Harley can have dinner with Happy. Pete should be able to throw this off pretty quickly, we’re just in for a rough night.” Tony said.

“I’ll bring you some in later.” Pepper replied. Tony leaned over and gave her a kiss before he grabbed his pad and headed back into Peter’s room, setting the pad down on a table as he did so. He went back into Peter’s bathroom and grabbed the thermometer, another glass of water and a wet towel. He knew he could ask FRIDAY about Peter’s temperature but he wanted to take it himself. He ran the thermometer over Peter’s face and groaned when he saw that Peter was up to 102.5, meaning the medicine hadn’t kicked in yet.

Peter was shifting restlessly on the bed, and Tony put the wet towel onto the kids’ forehead. Peter settled under him for a moment before he started shifting again.

“You’re alright Pete. You’re okay.” Tony said softly as he rubbed Peter’s shoulder, trying to get him to settle down. Peter kicked his legs until the blanket Tony had put on him was pushed off of him.

“You need the blanket on Pete.” Tony said as he pulled the blanket back up. Peter was shivering without him.

“So-hot.” Peter mumbled under him, his eyes not opening.

“I know kid but you’re shivering. It’s just the fever making you think you’re hot.” He put a hand down at the top of the blanket to prevent Peter from pushing the blanket back down.

He had a few moments of silence before Peter weakly lurched up, and threw up all over the blanket. His eyes were still half closed and he groaned as Tony pushed him back down, before grabbing the blanket and pulling it off the bed while rolling it up. Peter groaned underneath him again as he shivered violently.

“I know Pete. Hold on just a second.” Tony said as he pushed himself off the bed and headed towards Peter’s closet. He grabbed a few of the blankets in there just as Peter turned his head to throw up again, this time all over the floor next to the bed. Tears were leaking from his closed eyes down his face as he lurched and threw up again.

Tony hurried back over to him with the blankets, carefully stepping around the sick on the floor. He placed one of the blankets on Peter, and then took the wet cloth to wipe at Peter’s mouth. Peter’s eyes still hadn’t opened but he grabbed at the blanket, pulling it up to his chin and clutching at it.

“M-cold.” Peter mumbled and Tony lay another blanket on top of Peter, the teenager clinging at it.

“FRI, can you have one of the bots sent up here to clean up this mess?” Tony had specific cleaning bots all throughout the tower, and FRIDAY affirmed that some of them were headed his way. He set the dirty cloth back on the table next to the bed and left a hand on Peter’s forehead.

He ended up sitting there for a number of hours as Peter went from cold to hot and back. The cleaning bot ended up staying in the room, dealing with the mess each time that Peter threw up. Peter remained only half-conscious throughout it all, apologizing each time he was lucid enough. Tony felt exhausted but he didn’t want to leave Peter alone. It was the early hours of the morning when Peter started having nightmares, and each time Tony had to talk him down and reassure him that they were in The Tower and that Peter was safe, and Tony was safe and not on Titan.

At about 5 in the morning, Pepper came in just as Peter was waking up from another nightmare. She had come in during the night with food for Tony but the smell had made Peter sick, so she had taken it away.

“Hey honey.” Tony greeted her.

“How is he?” Pepper asked as she came over to the bed, May following closely behind her. The dog had been forced out of the room the night before and had made her displeasure very clear. As Pepper stood next to Peter, his eyes opened.

“May?” He asked, looking at Pepper and Tony’s heart sank.

“No honey, I’m Pepper. Your dog May is here though.” Pepper replied, and Peter was silent for a second before he started crying.

“Oh honey.” Pepper leaned over and put her hand on Peter’s cheek, ignoring the tears that were getting her hand wet. May walked around and jumped up on the bed, putting her head onto Peter’s shoulder. He turned his head so it was in the dog’s fur, his body shaking with the sobs. Tony and Pepper could only stare at each other until the tears subsided and Peter went still. Tony carefully pulled Peter’s head out of the dogs’ fur and rearranged him carefully on the pillows. He stayed asleep.

“Has the fever gone down at all?” Pepper asked and Tony nodded.

“It was at 102.5 last night and we’re down to 101.5 now.”

“You should get some sleep.” Pepper suggested to Tony and he shook his head.

“I don’t want to leave him while he’s having nightmares.”

“I didn’t mean leave him. His bed is big enough for 4 people to sleep in honey. Get some rest on the other side.” Pepper suggested and Tony nodded.

“His medicine is on the table there. He’s due for another dose in a few hours. He hasn’t had much to drink so if you can get him to drink something, that would be great. There’s granola bars on the table and cloths in the bathroom-“

Pepper cut Tony off with a kiss and a smile.

“I know how to take care of a sick child.”

Tony nodded and walked around the bed to the other side of Peter’s massive bed. Tony had gone a little overboard when he had decorated Peter’s room at The Tower. It was more elaborate than the room Tony had designed at The Compound. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped himself up in it before closing his eyes after one more look at Peter, and dropped off to sleep.

-

_Trial Unsuccessful_

“Shit.” Tony swore again as the time travel trial failed once again. He was using his pad in Peter’s room after only a few hours of sleep. He had woken up from his own nightmare to see Pepper leaning over him, trying to wake him up. Peter had still been asleep next to him but May had been whining anxiously in his direction. Pepper had suggested he go back to sleep but he had given up. She had had to go work and make sure that Harley got off to school but Tony had remained in Peter’s room. His fever had gone down to 100.5 and he was resting much easier than he had during the night. Pepper and Tony had managed to get him to drink half a cup of water when she had left and Tony was feeling a lot more relaxed than he had been.

Tony switched out of the simulation and pulled up his most recent suit design. While he hadn’t been out as Iron Man since Titan, he was still working on bettering the suits. The thought of getting back into the suit gave him nightmares but he knew enough that the world wouldn’t stay the way it was, and that eventually people would be back to cause trouble. He had even started specs for a new suit, with as many protections as he could possibly put into it. The only thing he was having issues with was the color. He doubted that Pepper would exactly appreciate being in Iron Man colors, if she ever wore the suit, which was very unlikely.

There was a groan from the bed and Tony immediately wiped the entire screen, then set the pad on the table. May lifted her head as Peter opened his eyes and looked up at Tony. His eyes were much less glassy and although he still looked tired, he looked much better than he had the night before.

“How are you feeling?” Tony asked.

“Thirsty.” Peter groaned. Tony grabbed the glass off the table and as Peter sat himself up to lean against the headboard, Tony handed it to him. Peter took it was slightly shaky hands and downed the whole thing.  Tony ran the thermometer down Peter’s face again, and it beeped back as 100.2.

“Much better there kid.” Tony said as he smiled at Peter.

“I’m sorry.” Peter said.

“For being sick?” Tony asked, eyebrows raised at the kid. Peter nodded and Tony just looked at him. “You can’t help getting sick Pete.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry about making Peter get sick. I don't think i've managed to write a fic without him getting sick or passing out. Whoops.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- October 2018. 7 months passed.  
**

 

“Are they going to be ready in time?”   


The voice on the other end of the phone gave an affirmative and Tony nodded. He was in his room at the Tower, and talking to the contractors who were at the lakehouse building the house and the guesthouses. They were completed with the main house and one of the guesthouses but they needed to get the second guesthouse done before the wedding could happen. The wedding was only going to be a small gathering but each guest house only had 5 rooms. The main house had rooms for Pepper & Tony, Peter, Harley, an extra room for either Happy or Rhodey & then one for the new baby that would be coming. The wedding was scheduled for 3 weeks away, at the end of October.

The baby didn’t have a name yet as they didn’t know what gender it was, and Pepper didn’t want to know. Rhodey had asked them once and Pepper had shot him down quickly on that. Tony was still slightly terrified that there was a child being born into such a broken world, but Pepper-being her usual self- had embraced the surprise and was getting completely into it. She had already been getting their room set up with baby items and had started on figuring out how to get another room in the Tower for the baby when it got older. She had snapped at Happy when he mentioned how much she was buying and all of the males left her be after that, the teenagers included.

The teenagers were currently on their way home from school as Tony sat in the Tower. Peter had been struggling with the nightmares again but had refused to stay back from school despite both Pepper and Tony asking if he wanted to stay home. They still hadn’t been able to get him someone to talk to, but Tony was pretty sure that they were near the top of the list. Peter had talked to him more often about things, versus just going off to Steve and his counseling sessions. He had been to Steve a few times but had always let someone know before he was going, which made Tony a lot happier.   


Happy normally drove them to and then picked them up from school but the teenagers had begged to take the trains home now that the city was getting to be a bit safer so Tony had agreed on a trial basis. He had let them go on the train their first day of school but not after that until today. Happy was still driving around in the car in case he was needed but otherwise, the teenagers were on their own, and Tony was trying his best to be calm about it. The city was getting to be safer, but there was still a lot that needed to be done to be cleaned up, and get people in homes and off of the streets.   


Tony was more concerned about Harley at the moment. He had seemed to be doing a lot better than Peter, but in Tony’s opinion, the teenager wasn’t doing that well. Harley didn’t show his emotions like Peter did, a much more reserved person than Peter was, more like Tony used to be. Tony had run into him in the hallway the previous week and the teenager looked upset but had quickly hidden that away once he had seen Tony. Upon seeing that, Tony had decided that when they got Peter a therapist that Harley would need to and Pepper had agreed with him. He wondered to himself if they should get Harley a dog too, as May was definitely helping out Peter in ways that Tony couldn’t.   


“Boss, Colonel Rhodes is on his way up.” FRIDAY called out, surprising Tony. He hung up the phone with the contractor and got up to head to the common room. Rhodey wasn’t supposed to be back for another week, having been in Canada trying to help them out. Any of the higher ranked members of the Armed Forces were being sent to other countries to assist them out, and Rhodey had been sent there the previous week, both by the Air Force and Nat who was taking care of the Avengers and the assistance that they were giving.

“Tony?” The man stepped out of the elevator into the common room as Tony walked into the room himself.   


“Hey Platypus. Why are you here? Not that i’m not happy to see you, but last we talked, you were in Canada until the wedding.” Tony asked. He walked over to the coffee machine to pour himself a new mug, having put his old mug down somewhere and not feeling like trying to look for it. He’d come back across it eventually.   


“Tony.” Rhodey said and Tony turned around at the seriousness of his voice. The man wasn’t smiling, looking rather grim as he stood there, and Tony’s heart immediately dropped involuntarily.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Tony asked. He poured the coffee into the mug and headed back over to Rhodey. He sat down and patted the couch next to him until the colonel sat down.

“We found something in Canada.” Rhodey started and Tony gave him a look. “There’s someone killing large amounts of people, and there were reports of people who saw them. The person had a bow and arrow. He was very skilled, and killed ruthlessly.” Rhodey explained and Tony’s jaw dropped.

He knew only one person who was skilled with a bow and arrow, and he thought that person had been snapped. He hadn’t seen Clint in years, the man having been on house arrest with his family. He couldn’t even recall the last conversation he had had with the man, but he thought it was on the raft. He set down the coffee on the table in front of him and Rhodey reached over and grabbed it to gulp it down.   


“Okay, rude.” Tony pointed at Rhodey as he set down the now empty mug.   


“I’ve been following someone who we thought was gone Tony.” Rhodey replied.

“Was it confirmed to be him? Could there be another expertly skilled archer out there?” Tony asked.

“The description sounded like it could be Clint. Clint with a seriously ugly buzz cut, and tattoos all down one arm but yes, it sounds like Clint.” Rhodey replied.

“Rhodey, it’s been 7 months. Why is he just showing up now? And where has he been? And tattoos?” Tony asked. He got up from the couch to head back to the coffee maker to pour himself more coffee. He poured it into a new mug from the cupboard and walked back to the couch, making sure to hold onto the mug and not letting Rhodey grab it from him again.   


“We have no idea, but his whole family is confirmed to have disappeared. Maybe he just lost it?” Rhodey suggested.

“You lost your family. You didn’t go crazy and kill a bunch of people. Neither did either of the teenagers who live here.” Tony pointed out and Rhodey shrugged.

“I lost my mom but I have you and Pepper and Happy and those two teenagers you mentioned. I didn’t lose everyone.” Rhodey replied.

  
“Okay but aren’t Clint and Nat close? She survived. Does she know about Clint? She was pretty upset about him and the Barton family being gone.” Tony asked. The last time he had spoken to Nat, she had once again been pretty upset about that fact that her best friend and his entire family had vanished. She had been at the Compound by herself since everyone had left her, and Tony thought she might be getting lonely up there.    


“I spoke to her on the way here. She knows.” Rhodey sighed. “She-”

Whatever Rhodey was going to say was cut off by the teenagers stepping out of the elevator. Tony shook his head at Rhodey, trying to convey that he didn’t want the boys to know about Clint.   


“Rhodey! What are you doing here?” Harley called out as his face lit up upon seeing the man. Tony looked at Peter who was behind Harley and the teen just smiled slightly.   


“I decided I was over Canada and wanted to come and see my favorite teenagers.” Rhodey replied.   


“We are definitely better than Canada.” Harley agreed. He threw his backpack onto the floor and then threw himself into one of the armchairs. “And everything is better than school.”

Tony watched Peter follow the other teenager as he sat down in one of the other chairs. He was looking at Rhodey suspiciously and Tony knew he wasn’t fooled, and knew Rhodey’s explanation wasn’t the real reason why he was in the Tower.   


“How is school going? You’ve been there for 2 months now right?” Rhodey asked and Harley groaned.

“Longer. It feels like forever.” Harley replied. He leaned over in the armchair until his head was resting on one of the arms, his feet draped over the other armchair. “And i’m tired.”

“It’s different from before.” Peter said quietly and Tony & Rhodey looked over to him. “There’s a lot of people gone, and teachers are still trying to figure out exactly what people were learning and what to teach us. My decathlon teacher is trying to get the team started again.”   


“Your friend Ned survived right? How is he?” Rhodey asked Peter, and the teenager smiled slightly.

“He’s okay. He misses his mom a lot and gets upset a lot, but he’s dealing with it, just like everyone else is. My friend Abraham lost both his parents, but his older sister survived, and everyone at school lost at least one person.” Peter replied. “I’m really glad to have Ned though.”

\---

“ Why was Colonel Rhodes really here the other night?”   


Tony spun around in his chair to see Peter standing in the doorway to the lab. Rhodey had just left the Tower a few hours prior after spending nearly a week with them. He hadn’t told Tony where he was going, only that Happy was going with him, leaving the man confused. Tony had headed down to the lab to try to work on something, but hadn’t made much progress.   


“What do you mean?” Tony asked. Peter gave him a look as he walked into the lab and headed over to one of the other spinny chairs.

“Tony. I know he wasn’t really here just to see Harley and I. Harley may have bought that but I didn’t and I still don’t. Rhodey wouldn’t just leave an assignment like that.”

“You’re too smart sometimes kid.” Tony sighed.

“So why was he here?” Peter asked again. He folded his arms as he looked at Tony.

“I didn’t want either you or Harley to know this, but Rhodey came across a crime scene where there were about 10 people killed. The man who was doing the killing was described and it sounded like Clint.”

“Clint? As in Clint Barton? Hawkeye?” Peter asked. He looked completely shocked, as he stopped his spinning chair and put his hands on the table in front of him

“Yes, Clint Barton. Apparently he didn’t vanish and just showed up in Canada.” Tony explained. Peter looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but Tony’s phone rang suddenly and he pulled it out to see Happy’s number on his screen.

“FRI? Speaker?” He called out and the AI called back in agreement.

“Hap?” Tony asked. “You’re on speaker with Pete and I.”

“Hey boss. So you wanted 5 rooms in each guest house right?” Happy’s voice came through into the lab and Tony and Peter looked at each other.

“Yes? Why are you asking?” Tony asked suspiciously.

“Because I'm at the lake.” Happy replied.

“And why are you there?” Tony called back. “Is Rhodey with you? Is that where the two of you went?”

“He is. So are Steve and Nat. I heard you saying the workers were slightly behind, so we came to help.” Happy replied. Tony’s mouth opened to reply, but he had no response.   


“Tony?” Happy called out after a few moments of silence. Tony was still unable to respond in his surprise, his mind both blanked out and full of thoughts at the same time.

“I think you broke him.” Peter called out, looking at Tony.   


“Sorry boss. But we all wanted to help out and get it done for the wedding.” Happy called out.

Tony took a deep breath, his breath shuddering a little in his chest. He was completely taken aback and surprised at Happy’s announcement. His eyes felt a little wet, and he turned away from Peter to try to hide his emotions. The moisture was a surprise, his emotions welling up much quicker than he anticipated and not something that he expected.   


He could hear Peter talking to Happy behind him, but he couldn’t get a hold on the words, as he tried to take another deep breath. He did hear Peter say goodbye and then there was silence for a few moments before Peter’s chair squeaked and the teenager was walking over to him.

“Can I hug you?” Peter asked and Tony nodded. He felt the teenager hug him from behind, his arms coming around Tony’s neck. “Are you okay?”

Tony nodded and Peter huffed a laugh behind him.   


“You know they all love you right? That’s why they are helping.” Peter said to him after a moment of Tony trying to take deep, measured breaths.   


“I’m not so sure Nat and Steve love me Pete.” He replied.

“I think they do.” Peter protested. “I think you and Steve care for one another more than you like to admit. I don’t like that he hurt you and did what he did, but I think he feels awful for that and the fight you had, but I think he cares for you a whole heck of a lot.”

“Did he tell you that in his counseling sessions?” Tony shot back. The moisture in his eyes was drying up and he was starting to feel a little more like himself.   


“No. But some of the things he has said makes it clear he feels bad.” Peter replied. Tony didn’t say anything but let the teenager still hug his neck. “You don’t believe me, but I know I'm right.”

“Oh are you?” Tony asked.

“Yes.” Peter pulled away from Tony, and the man turned back around, his eyes dry now.   


“I’ll let you believe that.” Tony teased and Peter smiled. He bit his lip and Tony could tell he wanted to ask something else. “Yes?”

“I had a question about the wedding.” Peter said tentatively.

“Go ahead kid.” Tony replied.

“Do you think we could have an empty seat for May? I know she would have been so happy to see you and Pepper get married. But it’s okay if you say no.”   


“Pete, that’s a wonderful idea bud.” Tony responded quickly and Peter’s nervous expression on his face relaxed.   


“Yeah?”

“Of course. I’ll suggest it to Pepper but i can’t see her saying no.” Tony said firmly. He watched as Peter’s eyes filled up and the teenager blinked the wetness away.   


“We could have chairs for Harley’s family too, and Rhodey’s mom? If they want that?” Peter said hesitantly and Tony nodded.

“You’re just full of good ideas today Pete.”

“And maybe the other Avengers who disappeared? Unless that’s too many?” Peter suggested again.

“I’ll check that one with the boss. See what she says. Some of those Avengers aren’t her favorite people.”

\---

“Hey Pete? You’re going to be late if you don’t get up now.” Tony called out as he headed towards said teenagers’ bedroom. Harley was up and in the kitchen but Tony hadn’t seen the other kid appear yet. He knocked on Peter’s door and didn’t get a response, so he opened the door and stepped in. Peter’s covers were all kicked back, but there was no kid in the bed.

“Pete?” Tony called again and then there was a thud from the bathroom.

“Kid?” Tony called out a third time as he knocked on the door of the bathroom. There was a grunt from inside and he took that as his chance to open the door. Peter was sitting on the floor of the bathroom by the toilet, leaning on the rim. He was sobbing fiercely, hiccuping every so often and gasping for breaths.   


“Pete?!” Tony moved quickly to kneel next to Peter. He could smell that someone had been sick in the bathroom before he had come in. He put a hand on Peter’s forehead, afraid that he was sick again, but Peter’s skin wasn’t even slightly warm.

 

“I’m n-not sick.” Peter told him stuttering slightly through the tears, shaking his head slightly and Tony moved his hand away.   


“But you did get sick?” Tony asked and Peter nodded.   


“Any particular reason why?”

“It’s Aunt May’s birthday today.” Peter said quietly between sobs and Tony’s heart sank. He moved his hand down to Peter’s shoulder instead, feeling him shaking underneath it.   


“Pete.” Tony said softly and Peter gulped. He leaned back over the toilet and threw up again, gagging and choking as he did so.

“You’re alright. Just get it up and then take some deep breaths. School definitely isn’t happening today then.” Peter didn’t even argue with Tony as he spoke, too busy focusing on trying to get some deep breaths in.

“FRI, tell Harley to go ahead and go. Happy can drive him today.” He called up to the ceiling and waited a moment.

“Harley is asking if Peter will be joining him.” FRIDAY called back

“Pete’s going to take the day off today.” Tony replied. The teenager gulped and then leaned back over the toilet. He didn’t bring anything up, just sobbed again and Tony rubbed his back slowly. He eventually leaned back from the toilet and slumped right back into Tony’s arms.   


“Boss? Pepper is requesting to know where you are.” FRIDAY called down.

“Tell her Pete’s sick and i’m in his bathroom.”   


“She is on her way. She wants to know if you need anything.” FRIDAY replied.

“Have her bring a cup of water.” Tony suggested before looking at Peter’s face. “Do you think you can drink something? I don’t want you to get dehydrated bud.”

“I can try.” Peter said. He pushed himself out of Tony’s arms slightly and put a hand out on the side of the bathtub to support himself.   


Pepper walked in a few moments later to see them both still sitting on the floor, Tony leaning back against the bathroom cabinets and Peter sat back against the bathtub, tears still running down his face.

“Can you drink this?” Pepper knelt down to Peter’s level to hand him the cup of water. He nodded and took it from her but didn’t drink any of it. He set it down next to him and tried to get his tears under control before grabbing it again.

“Small sips.” Tony warned Peter and the teenager grabbed the cup to take a sip. He hesitated for a moment after the first sip and then took another one, until the cup was empty.

The three of them stayed on the floor of the bathroom until Peter announced that he felt better and that he wanted to move from the bathroom floor.   


“I have some meetings I have to go to so i’ll be back later but Tony doesn’t have any.” Pepper said as they all stood up. Tony looked at her, he knew he had meetings that he was supposed to be at, but she shook her head and looked down at Peter. Tony nodded, and leaned over the teenagers head to give her a kiss. “I’ll see you boys later. I’ll text you when i’m on my way home. If you’re feeling better tonight, we can do family dinner?”   


Peter nodded slightly and Pepper headed out of the room.   


“Do you have work to do? I can just find something to do.” Peter said to Tony. Tony had a sneaking suspicion that the something Peter would find to do would be getting back into bed and not moving for the rest of the day.

“What did you and May normally do on her birthday?” He asked Peter instead.

“If she wasn’t working, we’d watch cheesy movies, and then eat ice cream for dinner.” Peter replied.

“Well, we can do the cheesy movies but Pep might not go for the ice cream for dinner, but definitely dessert. I’ll text Happy and get him to pick some up. Any flavor in particular?” Tony pulled out his phone and pulled up his text conversation with Happy. The man had texted him to let him know that Harley was at school and he was on his way back to pick up Pepper, so he quickly shot him a quick message asking for the ice cream.

“Vanilla is fine.” Peter said.

“Are you sure?”

“And Chocolate.”   


Tony nodded and sent a message asking for the two flavors as well as some Strawberry. Happy confirmed he would pick it up after dropping off Pepper and then bring it back to the Tower. Tony shuffled Peter out to the common room where they could sit on the couch and watch tv. After he made the teenager sit down, he grabbed the blankets off the chair and threw them at him, before heading to the kitchen to grab some water bottles. He chucked one at Peter who caught it mid-air and then opened one himself before sitting down next to the teenager.

“FRI. Open Netflix.” He called up and the Netflix logo appeared on the screen.

“Pick a movie.” He instructed Peter who scrolled through the selection before picking a comedy. As the movie started, Peter shifted around until he was under the blankets with one hand sticking out with the water bottle. He put his head on the back of the couch, but it didn’t last long before it was resting on Tony’s shoulder.   


“I really miss her Tony.” Peter said as the opening credits finished and the movie got started.   


“I know you do kid. I do too.” Tony replied. He put his arm around Peter’s shoulder and the teenager sighed.   


“I just felt like she was going to be around forever. I had lost so many other people, and she was resilient and always there through it all. I just didn’t think I would lose her so soon, and so suddenly.” Peter let out a shuddering breath and then Tony could tell he was crying again. His own eyes welled up and he fought to keep them at bay, not wanting to potentially upset the kid any more.   


“I know kid. I’m so sorry. I wish I could bring her back for you. I really do.” He said softly and Peter took another shuddering breath underneath him.

The two of them went silent then, just sitting there and watching the movie. Tony’s mind wandered and he thought about the time travel option again. Peter was silent under his arm, and he stared at the TV without really comprehending what he was watching. He wanted to bring everyone back, but he needed to do it without messing anything else up. He couldn’t go back to 7 months ago, but he needed to figure it out.   


“Boss?” FRIDAY eventually called and he startled out of his mindless wondering. The movie had ended and was paused on the end credits. Tony looked down at Peter, to see that the teenagers’ eyes were closed and his mouth parted as he took deep, even breaths. He hadn’t even realized that Peter had fallen asleep, slumped against his side.    


“Start another movie FRI. Just keep it on low.” He instructed and a moment later, the beginning credits of another movie started. He noticed this was a Star Wars movie and he smiled. His phone was in his pocket and he pulled it out to look at his emails, moving his hand slightly from Peter’s shoulder to utilize it. The teenager slept on beneath him, unaware completely.   


Tony wasted away the morning and the afternoon there, answering emails and having FRIDAY start a new movie each time one ended as background noise. Peter never stirred and Tony was really glad that the teenager was finally getting some restful sleep.   


It was late afternoon when he finally put his phone down, all emails answered and situations dealt with. Pepper and Happy had both texted for Peter updates and he had told them both that Peter was sleeping peacefully, to which they both responded happily. The teenagers weight and warmth on Tony was making him tired, and he closed his own eyes just for a moment.

“Tony.” Pepper’s voice broke into Tony’s sleep, and he opened his eyes to see her kneeling in front of him, touching his face. He moved his arms, expecting Peter’s weight to be there and sat  up quickly when he wasn’t.

“He’s okay. He woke up when I came in and went to give May a walk to the park with Harley and Happy. They are on their way back now.” Pepper soothed and Tony stretched.

“What time is it?”   


“It’s 6:30. FRIDAY told me you’ve been asleep for 3 hours. Neither of you woke up when Harley came back, and you didn’t even wake when I got home an hour ago.”   


“Was Pete alright when he woke up?” Tony asked. He pushed himself back until he was sitting up properly and Pepper stood up to sit next to him on the couch.

“He was. He seemed pretty sad but agreed when Happy suggested walking the dog. I think it was good for him to go and step outside. The ice cream is in the fridge, and I have Chinese food for dinner.” 

\---

“How many empty chairs did you end up putting out there?” Happy asked Tony as they stood in one of the guesthouses at the lake. With Steve, Happy, Rhodey and Nat’s help, the guest houses had been completed in time for the wedding.   


“May, Harley’s mom and sister, Mrs Rhodes, Vision, One of Pepper’s previous assistant, and three others.” Tony replied.   


“You should see Pepper. She looks beautiful.” Harley and Peter walked into the building, both grinning wildly. Pepper was in the main house with Nat, her assistant, Nebula and Carol getting ready there. The only thing that Tony knew about her dress was that it was loose in order to cover her starting to show stomach and that it was white.   


“She always looks beautiful.” Tony shot back as he did up his cuff links with shaking hands. He was beyond nervous. Rhodey slapped him on the back and grinned when Tony gave him a look. He slapped Tony’s hands away from his cuffs and took over doing them up.   


“Yeah but she looks even more beautiful today.” Harley said back to him. “She’s glowing.”

“That’s the pregnancy kid.” Happy smiled. He was sitting down on one of the couches, watching the others all get ready. 

  
“Nope. It’s both.” Harley grinned back.

“I just can’t believe we’re finally at this day. It’s been a long time coming.” Rhodey took his hands from Tony’s sleeves, cuff links done up. Tony reached over to the chair to grab his jacket to put it on over his waistcoat. His hands were still shaking as he did so.   


“Pepper put up with a lot, and still stayed with me.” Tony said agreeably. His stomach was churning with nerves as he stepped around to take a look in the mirror. He tugged on his sleeves, anxiously pulling them down to cover the cuff links.   


“You look fine Tones.” Rhodey assured him.   


“Hey Tony.” Bruce called as he walked into the building. He had shown up a few days before, not talking about where he had been for the past few months but seeming better than he had in a long time. He told Tony he wasn’t planning on staying around but getting back to his research after the wedding. Research that he wouldn’t explain even after Tony and Peter both questioned him repeatedly.    


“Brucie.” Tony called back.

“Thor and the raccoon are starting to create a bit of a ruckus out there. You might want to start sooner than later.” Bruce suggested and Tony nodded.

He had invited Thor, Carol, Bruce, Rocket and Nebula- not actually expecting any of them to show up and was beyond happy when they had all shown up in the past few days, ready for the wedding. When he had seen Nebula, it had turned into an emotional fest all over again, his body betraying him again with the emotion. The blue alien hadn’t shown the same emotion, but he got the feeling she was glad to see him too. She had claimed not to understand the whole process of a wedding but he didn’t really believe her.  Thor had shown up with Brunhilde and Peter had been so excited, asking her all sorts of questions. She had taken them graciously, until Peter had eventually run out of questions to ask her.   


“What kind of ruckus? Thor hasn’t exactly been himself while he’s been here.” Happy asked.

“I think it’s mostly the raccoon honestly.” Bruce answered. “But either way, it’s almost time.”

“Okay. Okay.” Tony nodded, trying to take a deep breath. “I got this. I got this.”

“Calm down.” Peter walked over to Tony, and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. He pinned Tony’s arms at his sides and squeezed.   


“Can’t breathe Pete. Loosen it up a little.” Tony protested and Peter dropped his arms away.   


“Lets go.” Rhodey said and Tony nodded again. Bruce went ahead of them to head back to his seat while the others all started to walk up the aisle. It was a beautiful fall day and the chairs and flower alter had been set up in the field behind where the lakehouse and guest houses had been built. The white folding chairs had been set up back there, most of them filled but the extra chairs spared about, with tags on each for who they represented. May’s chair was right at the front, next to where Bruce and Peter’s friend Ned were. Peter had seen it earlier and his face had fallen briefly before he pulled it back together. Harley’s mom and sister’s chairs were placed in the second row and Harley hadn’t really had an outward reaction to them.   


The flower alter was big enough for Pepper, Tony and the pastor to stand under, covered in white flowers from top to bottom. Pepper had started crying when she saw it, blaming it on the pregnancy hormones.   


Happy, Rhodey, Peter and Harley all walked down the aisle ahead of Tony to stand up where they would be next to him. He followed them down the aisle, not even looking around him. His hands were shaking again, and he felt beyond sick, his stomach churning with anxiety. He made it to the altar and took his place next to Rhodey. The man reached over to clasp his shoulder and smiled at him.

“Relax. You’re alright.” Rhodey said to him. “She’s not about to turn and run, and leave you up here.”   


“Is he going to pass out? He looks like he’s going to pass out.” Tony heard Peter ask from his spot next to Happy and he turned around to glare at him. Peter just grinned broadly back at him.

The music started and Tony turned back around. The music was an orchestra piece that Pepper had found and then proceeded to cry over and declare that it was the music they were using. Tony hadn’t argued with her, and he felt tears in his eyes as it started.

Carol walked down the aisle first, a bouquet of flowers in her hands followed by Natasha and then Pepper’s assistant.   


Everyone stood up and then Tony saw Pepper standing at the end. She had decided that she wanted to walk down the aisle by herself and she stood strong and tall as she began walking down to Tony. It wasn’t a long walk but he stared at her the whole time. Her hair was down and straight, her white dress flowing. The dress was strapless and straight across the top. It was fitted down through her waist where it flowed down over her stomach and to the floor, a short train behind her as she walked. She didn’t have a veil on, just a jeweled headband and flowers pinned carefully through her long hair. She was glowing as Harley had said and she smiled widely at Tony.   


By the time she reached the front, both Tony and Pepper were crying. She reached him and immediately passed her flowers off to Nat so she could reach out to grab Tony’s hands. He reached up and wiped her eyes before grabbing her hands and squeezing them tightly as she reciprocated the action.   


They had agreed on a short ceremony, and very quickly, they were announced as husband and wife. He grabbed her and kissed her, a long and passionate kiss that had everyone yelling in delight. He heard Rhodey and Happy above all of them.   


The reception was set up on the other side of the property, a tent set up with four tables and a small dance floor. Tony had hired as many catering companies as possible, to try to spread the wealth, and employ as many people as possible for the night. That had resulted in about 15 different cuisines being offered on a buffet. A lot of food for a rather small amount of people. He and Pepper had forgone the pictures in between the ceremony and the wedding, and the food was already set out so everyone started eating right away.   


Pepper and Tony were sitting at a table with Peter, Ned, Harley and Rhodey.  Steve, Happy, Nat, Thor, Bruce and Brunhilde sat at another and then Rocket, Nebula, Carol, Pepper’s assistant and the pastor and his wife sat at a third. They had also set up a fourth table for the people who were missing and very much missed by the wedding attendees. The pastor and his wife only stayed to have some food and then headed to the hotel where they were staying in for the night after saying their goodbyes and congratulations to Tony and Pepper.

The evening passed by and before long, it was time for the speeches. Rhodey and Peter were the only two who were going to make speeches. Rhodey went first, and talked about their days at MIT, and then Peter stood up and pulled out a piece of paper.

“So I wrote and rewrote this quite a few times, but here it is. I never thought that I would have another male figure in my life. After I lost my dad and then my uncle, it didn’t seem like the universe had that in store for me, and then Tony came into my life and everything changed. In the early days, it wasn’t so great, I think we can admit that-”

Tony laughed.

“But I think we’re there now. The last few months have been beyond awful for pretty much anyone who still exists, and I can only thank Tony and Pepper for the reason that I’m still here and still managing to function on a daily basis. I know I haven’t been around to see Pepper and Tony from the very beginning but from what I hear, this has been a long time coming and I’m beyond grateful to be here to see this, and to be a part of this family.” Peter’s eyes filled with tears now, and Tony felt his eyes start to fill up. He glanced at Pepper to see the tears in her eyes as well as she smiled at him.

“I didn’t think that I would get to have something like this again, and I don’t think I can ever thank either of you enough for taking me in, and helping me out, and even getting me a dog. I know I’m not always the easiest person, and I have nightmares and I skip school and I stress you out, but thank you for never giving up on me and being the truly incredible people that you are. I miss May every single moment of every single day and that will never go away, but I think she would be okay with me being happy that I have this. I love you both so much.”

Tony stood up to give Peter a hug, his arms wrapping around the teenager tightly. Tears were flowing down Peter’s cheeks as he hugged Tony back just as tightly.   


“I love you kid. We’re so glad to have you and we’ll always be here for you.” He murmured into Peter’s ear and the teenager nodded. They broke apart, and Pepper immediately wrapped Peter up in her arms. Tony wiped his eyes quickly and then sat back down at the table, grabbing his glass of water and taking a drink.   


The rest of the evening went by quickly and gradually people headed to the guesthouses to get some sleep. Happy was staying in the extra room in the main house, while Rhodey was staying in one of the guesthouses It ended up just being Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and Bruce outside at one of the tables while everyone else had disappeared. They remained outside for a while before eventually deciding in the early hours that it was time to go in. With the borders still a mess, Tony and Pepper weren’t planning on going on a honeymoon, just spending some time at the lakehouse with the boys, Happy and Rhodey. The school had agreed to the teens missing a few days and even if they hadn’t, Tony and Pepper would have kept them out.   


Pepper and Tony headed into the lakehouse with Happy, saying goodnight to Rhodey as they did. Pepper headed for their room, but Tony headed to check on the teenagers. He had lost his jacket and rolled his sleeves up as he walked to Peter’s room. The teenagers’ friend Ned was spending the night with them on a blow up bed. He opened their door to see both teenagers fast asleep. Peter was on his back with the blankets kicked off around him. His arms were thrown above his head and the pillow was half off the bed. May was lying at the end of the bed, and she lifted her head slightly as Tony walked in.

“Shh.” He whispered to May, who whoofed slightly and put her head back down. Tony stepped around Ned on the floor, and reached over to Peter. He carefully shifted the teenager around and grabbed the pillow to put under his head. He grabbed the twisted blankets and rearranged them so they were over Peter’s body, and then tucked them in around him. The teenager remained fast asleep and completely unaware of Tony. He reached over and smoothed back Peter’s hair from his forehead, resting his hand there for a moment before he pulled away. May whoofed again softly and he ran his hand over her fur before stepping away and out of the room, closing the door behind him.   


He stepped down the hallway to where Harley’s room was and saw that the door was wide open. Tony stepped through the door and laughed softly at seeing the teenager lying face down on his bed, still in his suit.   


“Harley.” He shook the teenager slightly and Harley’s head moved and his eyes opened.

“Tony?”   


“Yeah kid. You passed out in your suit.” Tony smiled.

“Oh.” Harley’s eyes closed again.

“Kid.” Tony shook him again.

“I’m sleeping.” Harley mumbled.   


“I know. Can you at least take your jacket off?”   


Harley nodded sleepily but made no movement to do so. Tony laughed and began pulling at Harley’s arms. The teenager finally made a movement and assisted Tony in pulling his arms out of the jacket before flopping back down, and closing his eyes again. Tony reached down to undo his shoes and pull his socks off, before he pulled the blanket up and over the sleeping teenager. He ruffled Harley’s hair and then left the teenager’s room, shutting the door behind him.

Pepper was already lying in bed when he reached their room, the flowers and headband gone from her hair and dressed in her pajamas.

“Boys okay?” She asked and Tony nodded. He went into their bathroom to change and get ready for bed before joining her in the bed. She grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers as she reached over to give him a kiss.   


“Hello husband.” She smiled.   


“Hello wife.” He replied, giving her another kiss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took me so long to update this. It's been an interesting and busy time. 
> 
> I promise it won't be as long for the next update. 
> 
> When I started this chapter, I honestly thought to myself it would only be around 2-3,000 words and then this monster happened...
> 
> The next chapter will switch POV's again and we'll go back to Peter.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I don’t really like this chapter much at all and I think it’s because i’m a bit despondent.
> 
> I generally try not to be that person, but I know how many people are subscribed to this, and how many people have this bookmarked and on the last chapter, I got 1 comment, and a few kudos, which honestly really bummed me out.  
>  As a writer, I do want feedback and comments on what you enjoy about my writing and the story and what drew you in and is keeping you reading, even if it’s a “hey, i loved this part”, or “that line was funny”.   
> I know i’m not the best writer out there, but I do always enjoy feedback and knowing what you are enjoying about the story!

**Chapter 12- December 2018. 9 months passed.**

The covers on the bed were overly warm as Peter lay under them, but he didn’t feel like he wanted to move. He had been up for an hour but had yet to actually move out of the bed. May was lying just to the side of him and she whined at him, putting a paw on top of the covers. He turned his head to see her and she whined again, looking directly into his eyes. He reached one of his hands up to put it in her fur and she pushed up against it, trying to get him to pet her more. Peter sighed and rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to comfort both herself and himself. 

He turned his head towards the window to see the snow coming down heavily outside the Tower window. The snow was obscuring his view from seeing outside, but he didn’t mind. They had been back in the Tower since a week after the wedding, and he had memorized what it looked like outside the window and into the city. 

He had felt okay for a few weeks after the wedding but now it was closer to Christmas and the New Year and he could tell he was struggling again. He had gotten used to Christmas without Ben, but not May. He loved Tony, and Pepper but he missed May so much it was a pain that was resonating throughout his whole chest. The pain had gradually gotten worse over the past few weeks and although he hadn’t said anything, he was pretty sure that Tony could tell. He was almost anticipating the man saying something to him soon. He had been busy with SI business with Pepper since the wedding but he knew it would be coming.

“Peter?” Pepper’s voice called at the door, and he called out an affirmative to her. 

“Ned is here.” 

Peter sat up quickly and May barked in protest at being dislodged. Ned hadn’t mentioned anything to Peter about coming over when he had been texting him the day before. He pushed her off his lap and got out of bed, walking over to open the door. His best friend was standing there, covered in melting snow and beaming at him.

“What are you doing here?” Peter asked Ned as Pepper walked off down the hallway. Ned just stepped forward and threw his arms around Peter to hug him. Peter automatically put his arms up and hugged Ned back.  

“Mr Iron Man called me.” Ned replied to Peter’s question when they broke apart

“You can just call him Tony Ned.” Peter replied and Ned shook his head.

“Nope Mr Iron Man is his name. But he called me and asked if I wanted to come over. I haven’t been in a while and Dad’s not doing so well, and I haven’t seen you since finals.” Ned explained.

He pushed past Peter to walk into Peter’s room, heading straight for May who looked delighted to see him. Ned sat down on the floor next to the bed, and May immediately jumped into his lap, tail wagging furiously. She loved Ned almost as much as she loved Peter.

Peter shook his head as he headed for the bathroom to go and brush his teeth and get changed. Once he did that, he headed back out to Ned and May, pulling on a hoodie as he did so. Ned had found a towel and was drying off his damp hair with one hand as he pet May with the other. 

“How did you get here? Did you walk? You’re wet.” Peter asked as he sat down on the edge of his bed and Ned shook his head.

“Mr Happy picked me up but I had to wait outside so I got covered in snow. It’s coming down fast out there.” Ned replied and Peter nodded. 

He and Ned got up a moment later and headed out into the living area. Harley was sitting at the couch already and he waved at the two boys as they sat down with him with May following them. 

Peter looked up to see that Harley was watching Netflix and he settled himself on the couch, with May curling herself next to him, her head resting on Peter’s arm, and he smiled at her as she settled herself. Pepper had disappeared somewhere and Peter knew Tony hadn’t been up in their living area for the entire morning, FRIDAY having confirmed this when Peter had asked. 

“Have you guys thought about college yet?” Ned asked after an extended period of silence and Peter’s heart dropped.

He had thought about college, especially recently. They were halfway through their junior year already and the college applications would have to be started next summer. 

He had gone back and forth between college, and whether he even wanted to apply. He and May had been discussing his options, and looked into scholarships excitedly planning for the next step in Peter’s life after high school, and her being gone had completely dissolved that excitement. He knew enough about Tony and Pepper that they would make him go to college and it wasn’t an option, and Tony being Tony would pay for it, but he didn’t think he could go far. MIT hardly seemed like an option anymore, but NYU seemed like it would be okay, if he was going to have to go. It was close to the Tower and in New York. 

“I’m looking at MIT.” Ned proclaimed and Harley nodded. 

“Peter and I were both going to go there and be roommates.” Ned and Harley looked at Peter and he just nodded, doing his best to smile. 

He didn’t want to share with anyone yet that he didn’t think he could do MIT. He didn’t think he had the capacity to explain that he didn’t think that he could do that anymore, at least not for a little while yet. It made him sick to even think about being that far away from Tony. 

“I haven’t really decided on where I want to go yet. I’m sure Tony will push towards MIT but i’m not sure if I want that yet.” Harley said. 

“Are you going to stay in this area? You came from Tennessee right?” Ned asked and Harley nodded.

“I did, but there’s better schools up here for what I am looking at doing, so definitely staying up here. It’s also a lot more populated with people up there.” Harley explained. 

He looked over at Peter who was petting May, and Peter saw his eyes narrow slightly at him. Peter tried to smile again before he looked down at May, putting his focus on the dog. 

The other two went silent again, and they all watched the movie showing on the television for a few hours before Happy came up to collect Ned and take him home. The snow was still falling heavily outside but Happy assured Peter that he would get his best friend home safely.

-

Peter found himself lying in bed again a few mornings later, with May draped over him snoring away happily.

He had been up for the majority of the night, feeling sick about it being Christmas Day. Tony and Pepper had tried to include him in a movie night along with Harley, and Peter had only managed an hour before he hid in his room with the dog. Tony had knocked on his door to say goodnight but Peter hadn’t responded, wanting the man to believe he was asleep and not trying to talk to him.

He didn’t have a single interest in getting out of bed and even celebrating the holiday. If he could, he would stay in bed the whole time he would. May seemed perfectly happy to do so and Peter wasn’t about to disturb her.  

He turned slightly so he was facing the wall and one of May’s paws slapped him in his face. He huffed and adjusted that paw away, the dog huffing slightly back as she readjusted herself on Peter. 

“Pete?” Tony opened up the door to Peter’s room and Peter just hummed back to him, not turning away from the wall. He could hear Tony walk over to him, before the edge of the bed shifted down slightly. 

Tony pushed May off of Peter and pulled at Peter’s shoulder until he was facing Tony. May grumbled and jumped off the bed, before heading out of the room, and Peter guessed she was going to head straight for her favorite chair to continue sleeping. 

“Hey.” Tony said softly and Peter half smiled back. 

“How are you doing?” Tony asked and Peter shrugged. Tony’s mouth twisted and he put a hand down onto Peter’s shoulder, gripping it tightly. “Scoot over.”

Tony pushed at Peter until he was sitting up, and then Tony adjusted himself so that he was sitting next to him. Peter put his head down onto Tony’s shoulder and the man put an arm around him, hugging him across his shoulder.

Tony didn’t say anything, so they just sat there before Peter opened his mouth again, to express what he had been thinking that had kept him up during the night.

“It’s been 9 months already.” He started and Tony nodded.

“It has.”

“It’s not hurting any less.” Peter replied. “It hurts just like it was yesterday, and it being Christmas makes it worse. The last few years it was just May and I, remembering Ben and now I have to remember May and the memories I made with her, and remember that there aren’t any more memories that I’ll make with her. It’s something I should be used to by now, with how many people i’ve lost, but i’m not.”

“You know Pete, grief is a complex and doesn’t exactly have a guidebook or timeline. There’s no, I should be used to this by now. You’ve lost a lot kid. So much, but you’re so strong and tough. There’s been a lot that’s happened to you, but you’ve risen above and kept going because you’re such an incredible kid Pete.”

Peter took a deep breath and opened his mouth before shutting it again. He didn’t know if he could fully express to Tony what had been truly keeping him up at night, and what he had been thinking about when he thought about going to college.

“What?” Tony asked after seeing Peter close his mouth. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth again.

“I’m just so afraid of losing anyone else. I think it’s pretty amazing that Ned lasted this long, being my friend. And I have you, and Pepper and Rhodey and Happy and Harley, but my brain is asking me how long do I get you for? How long until I lose another person? I’ve lost my mom, my dad, Ben, May, and MJ. How long until I lose all of you? And when I lose someone else, I don’t think i’ll be able to keep going.” Peter confessed. 

He felt Tony slightly stiffen underneath him before hugging him even tighter. 

The tears that had been building up in Peter’s eyes finally spilled over, and a sob erupted from his chest. He brought a hand up to cover his face and Tony pulled him into his arms to give him a hug. The tears continued down Peter’s cheeks as he brought his other hand up to clutch at Tony’s shirt.

“Kid.” Tony started. “You know as well as I do, that life isn’t a guarantee, and what happened 9 months ago very clearly showed that. I can’t promise that I will always be here, but I will damn well try to be here for you as long as I possibly can. I don’t plan on going anywhere for a very long time. I have you, Harley, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and this new baby that are coming, and I plan on being around for all of you for many years to come.”

Peter sobbed again and Tony’s arms tightened around him again, even tighter than before. 

“Honey?” Pepper’s voice called out and Peter pulled back from Tony’s arms. Pepper was standing at the door looking at the two of them. She smiled at Peter when she met his eyes. 

“Can we talk to you about something?” Tony asked Peter and he nodded. He wiped at his eyes and scooted to make more space for Pepper on the bed. She walked over and carefully adjusted herself with them, her stomach getting in the way a little as she sat. 

“You know you’ve been under our guardianship with Harley right?” Pepper started and Peter nodded.

“We started on the paperwork for adoption, and we would like to know if you are okay with us continuing with that? If you don’t, we don’t have to Peter. It will make things a little easier going forward but it is whatever you would like, and we can make anything work either way.” 

“Can I keep my name?” Peter asked. He was the last Parker and he didn’t want to lose that name. 

“Sure thing kid.” Tony agreed. “Harley wants to keep his name too, so we can definitely keep yours.”

“You talked to Harley too?” Peter asked.

“We did a little while ago. We wanted to talk to the two of you separately about it though.” Pepper answered. “We don’t want there to be any pressure on either of you for this decision.” 

Peter shifted on the bed slightly. He was very torn about the decision, cautious to continue getting closer to Pepper and Tony after what he had just confessed to Tony about his fears. 

“We’ll be here for you either way Pete.” Tony assured him as he squeezed his shoulder and Peter nodded and took a deep breath.

“I think I want that.” He said and both Tony and Pepper smiled.

“Yeah?” Tony asked.

“Yeah.” Peter agreed. “I’m still terrified i’m going to lose one of you, but I would like to be your family.”

“You’re our family even if we don’t complete those papers Peter. We love you very much, and love having you living with us, even if we don’t love the circumstances.” Pepper said softly. “But if you say so, we will continue the papers.”

Pepper leaned forward to wrap her arms around Peter to give him a hug, and Tony put his arms around her so that Peter was squished in the middle of the hug. 

“Boss, Colonal Rhodes and Happy are here.” FRIDAY announced suddenly and the three of them broke apart. 

May came running into the room and jumped onto the bed, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she licked Peter’s cheek. He laughed and pushed her away, and she bounced off the bed and back through the door into the living area.

“Someone’s excited.” Tony remarked as he stood up off the bed. 

“She loves Rhodey.” Peter laughed as he got himself off his bed.

He headed into his bathroom to get changed and brush his teeth and when he came out, Tony was still standing there. He slung an arm around Peter’s shoulders and the two of them headed out into the living room.

“I’m proud of you kid.” Tony murmured to Peter and he nodded. The emotions were only just under the surface and he was afraid if he said anything that they would come back up again. 

“Happy Christmas kid.” Happy greeted them as Tony and Peter walked into the living room.

May was dashing about on the floor, running between Harley who was on the couch and Rhodey who was standing nearer to the elevator, tail wagging like crazy. She ran over to Peter, and halted for a moment before dashing back over to Harley. 

“Hi Happy.” Peter greeted him. 

Rhodey waved at him and Peter waved back as he headed over to the couch to sit next to Harley. As soon as he sat down May launched herself into his lap, demanding fusses from him. He noticed that she had a gold ribbon tied around her neck and looked at Harley, who just grinned back. 

“She liked it.” Harley explained and Peter shook his head. 

“Kid, catch.” Peter glanced back over to Happy to see throw a package at his head. He caught it and set it on the couch next to him.

“You’re supposed to open that. It’s your gift from me.”

Peter picked the package back up, and started unwrapping the package, setting the paper next to him. May immediately grabbed at it and jumped off the couch, racing towards Rhodey with the paper. Peter turned the box over to see that it was a lego set of the Tower, and 12 different Iron Man suits. 

“Seriously?” Pepper asked as she looked at Happy. Tony immediately grabbed it out of Peter’s hands to take a look at it as Happy grinned. 

“They don’t look very much like my suits.” Tony remarked and Peter pulled the box back from him. 

“That’s because you rarely let people really get good looks at your suits Tony.” Harley explained. He reached over and picked up a box from the floor to show Peter that he had one of the boxes as well. 

“I have gifts too.” Rhodey called out. He headed over to the couch with May rushing after him, and grabbed a bag off the floor and then threw packages at Tony, Pepper, Harley and Peter. They all caught them and Peter started ripping the paper off. 

When he pulled the wrapping off, he saw a frame and turned it over to see two pictures- one of him, Ben, May and his parents and another one of him, Pepper, Harley and Tony. 

The picture of himself, Ben, May and his parents was one that he recognized from a few years prior to when his parents died at a carnival and it was one that he hadn’t seen in a long time. Peter was only young in the picture but May had always had it out so Peter wouldn’t forget his parents. After Ben had died, May had put it away. 

The other picture was the four of them sitting in the living room after what Peter knew had been a family dinner but he didn’t know the moment that the picture had been taken as he was clearly asleep in the picture. Tony was between himself and Harley, both the teens asleep with Tony’s arms around them as his eyes were also closed. Pepper was sitting on one of the other chairs, looking at all of them with a loving look in her eyes. 

Peter quickly wiped at his eyes to clear the tears away as he looked around to the others. He could see Harley’s gift was also a frame with the same picture but then another picture with a woman and a girl.

“Rhodey. This is lovely. Where did you get this picture?” Pepper asked. Tony was just staring at the frame that he had in his hands, not saying anything.. 

“I asked FRIDAY a few months ago to take pictures when the four of you were together, and this was the best one. I searched for the rest of the pictures of your families.” Rhodey replied. 

Pepper got up from the chair and walked straight over to Rhodey, hugging him firmly. 

“This is-” Harley started and then cleared his throat. “This is one of the best gifts I’ve ever received, and I got a one of a kind potato gun from Tony.”

Peter nodded, wiping his eyes again. This was the only picture he knew of with his parents when they were alive, and he only had a few from him, Ben and May, the majority of which were still with May’s belongings in storage and he didn’t think he could face any of her belongings yet. 

“Thanks for standing up my gift there Rhodes.” Happy said teasingly and the entire group laughed. 

Peter looked up to Tony to see the man looking at him softly and he smiled at him before looking back down to the frame.  His two families were there in front of him, so he would never forget the ones that were gone and the ones he still had. 

“You might have to update the pictures when the new baby comes.” Rhodey commented but Tony and Pepper shook their heads. 

“We’ll get new frames for when baby is here. This is for the family we have now.” Pepper proclaimed. “We need more frames to include you two, you’re our family too.” She sniffed and the tears flowed over and down her cheeks.  “Baby hormones.”

-

“FRIDAY, where is Tony?” Peter called out a few nights later as he exited his room. He hadn’t seen Tony for a few hours and it was getting closer to the New Year. 

“He is down in his lab Peter.” FRIDAY called back and Peter headed straight to the elevator to head down to Tony’s lab. 

The elevator took him straight down, and he exited into Tony’s lab. The man was facing away from him and he couldn’t tell what he was looking at but he instantly cleared it away when he saw Peter coming into the room.

“What was that?” Peter asked, completely curious. 

“Just something I’m working on.” Tony replied evasively. 

He pushed one of the wheely chairs over to Peter and he sat down before pushing himself back over to Tony’s table. There was a paper with scribbles on it and he quickly snatched it up. Tony’s writing was all over the paper, and Peter couldn’t decipher what it said. Before he could get a proper look at it, Tony reached over and pulled it away. 

“What was that?” Peter asked again. “And don’t say just something you’re working on.”

“It is just something i’m working on kid.” Tony responded. “It’s not working out so far but i’m working on it.”

“I can help.” Peter pushed and Tony shook his head. 

“I’ll figure it out.” 

“Fine.” Peter sighed. He pushed around his chair, spinning until Tony put a stop to it and made Peter face him. 

“So Harley told me something.” Tony started and Peter sighed. “You don’t seem very enthusiastic about MIT?”

Peter stared at the table in front of him, zoning out until Tony puts a hand under his chin to pull his face to look at him.

“Is he right?” Tony asked and Peter nodded.

“What caused the change?” Tony asked. His eyes were soft as they looked at Peter, and Peter’s eyes welled up again. He swiped at them again, frustrated that he couldn’t seem to have a conversation without crying.

“Is it what we talked about before? You’re afraid to lose someone being away from them?”

Peter nodded.

“Oh bud.” Tony said. He reached over to put a hand on Peter’s knee and scooted his chair closer to him. “You absolutely don’t have to go to MIT if you don’t want to. I think you’ll like it but you definitely aren’t required to go there.”

“I might not get in there anyways,” Peter interjected.

“Oh you will kid. But if that’s not what you want, you don’t have to go there, okay?” Tony patted Peter’s knee and then pulled away.

“I have to do an upgrade on Dum-E. Do you want to help?” Tony asked and Peter nodded emphatically. The robot zoomed over to them, beeping happily and Tony started directing Peter to work on the wiring of the robot.

Peter lost track of the time, working on Dum-E until Pepper came down to them. She was dressed in a nice dress and Peter looked at his watch, surprised that 6 hours had passed.

“Hey you two.” Pepper called out and Tony looked up from Dum-E. 

“Hi Pepper.” Peter replied. He put down his tools that he was working with as Pepper put her hands on her hips and gave them both a look.

“Everyone else is upstairs and getting ready for the New Year, which is in 30 minutes.Would the two of you care to join us?”  Pepper asked and both Peter and Tony nodded vigorously. 

Dum-E zoomed away as Tony put away his tools and Peter and Tony followed Pepper out the lab and back up to the main floor. 

When they left the elevator, Peter saw a group of people assembled around the room- Harley, Happy and Rhodey as well as Steve and Natasha. Peter hadn’t seen either of them for a little while and he greeted them both happily. 

May was in the room and dashing happily around with one of her stuffed animals, running up to each person in turn, trying to get them to throw the toy for her. She went completely crazy when she finally someone to throw it for her and hovered by Steve with the toy. 

Peter sat down on the couch next to Pepper and she gave him a hug as they counted down the minutes to the New Year. 

The ball was being dropped in Times Square as usual and the drop being shown on the tv in the living room. The cameras showing over the crowd showed a crowd that was about a quarter smaller than it normally was, the normally crowded streets only partially occupied. 

There was only one host on the screen with one other person down in the crowds talking to the people who were there. Peter could hear the person talking on the screen talking to the host about how they had lost everyone, but coming to see the ball drop was therapeutic to him. The sign of a new year, and trying to move on from the terrible months that the past 9 months had been, but a new year was coming and he wanted to be at the ball drop to see that- a new and fresh start into a new year. 

“A new year.” Peter whispered to himself but Pepper heard him and she touched his cheek with the back of her hand. 

“A New Year.” She whispered back to him. 

“And a new baby.” He said back to her and she smiled as she touched her stomach.

”A new life.”

The countdown started on the tv and the group assembled started their own countdown. Tony sat down next to Peter with Harley on the other side and the four of them sat together as the ball went down and the fireworks started. 

They all stood up to go out onto the balcony to see the fireworks that were being set off and Peter forced back the tears as he looked at them. Tony had his arms around the two teenagers and Pepper held onto Peter’s hand as they all stood there, with Rhodey, Happy, Natasha and Steve behind them all. 

“A New Year.” Pepper said quietly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ending was way cheesier than i had initially planned.  
> And the dog kept making appearances which wasn’t the initial plan either...   
> Next chapter brings us into the New Year and into 2019...


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack so sorry I haven't updated this one in a while!  
> October got away from me and then I was working on Whumptober, and now that's almost over I can focus a little more on my other stories.
> 
> This one is a bit different from all the other chapters, it's a bit more humorous and a LOT shorter.  
> Also, I absolutely had to google how newborns act...

**February 2019. 11 mos since snap.**

 

“What if she dies?” Peter asked and Rhodey gave him a look.

“She is not going to die Peter.”

“People die in childbirth though. It’s a fact. Even with the advancements in medicine, and there’s only one nurse in there with her.” Peter protested. He had spent the past week looking up the stats on the internet and had read plenty of stories about women and problems in childbirth, enough to completely frighten himself.

“Peter.” Rhodey put his hand on Peter’s knee and the teenager looked at him. “Do you really think that Pepper would leave any of us, and a new child? Do you actually think that Pepper Potts would do that?”

“No.” Peter replied.

“No.” Rhodey agreed. “So stop thinking that.”

“But it’s been a really long time, and that-” Peter protested. It had been 10 hours since Rhodey had come and gotten him and Harley from school, and Peter didn’t like it. 

“Labor can take a long time Pete. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong.” Happy spoke up and Peter looked over at him. He was sitting on the other side of the waiting room, next to Harley who was leaning against the wall, fast asleep. His hood was pulled over his head and providing him some cushion against the hard wall. 

“Why don’t you follow Harley’s example Pete? It’s almost midnight.” Rhodey suggested, and Peter shook his head.

“I can’t sleep.” He was far too anxious to even think about closing his eyes, despite how tired he felt. If he did, there was no saying that nothing would happen, and he needed to be awake to help if something did happen.

“Peter.” Rhodey said seriously and Peter looked at him. Rhodey’s eyes were soft and kind and he squeezed Peter’s knee like Tony normally did. “She’s going to be fine. Pepper will be fine, and the baby will be fine. Tony is in there and you know he won’t let anything happen to either of them. I can see how tired you are, this could be a few hours yet and you should get some sleep.” 

Peter opened his mouth to protest again, and was taken aback by a large yawn erupting from his mouth. 

“See?” Rhodey smiled before getting serious again. “Peter, I will wake you up if anything looks to be happening. I’ll wake you up right away, okay?” 

“Do you promise?” Peter asked, needing the reassurance.

“Peter, I promise.” Rhodey agreed. 

“Okay.” Peter finally agreed. He shifted himself until he was lying down across four chairs, and pulled his hood up over his head before settling down, and closing his eyes. He let out another large yawn and heard Rhodey chuckle above him.

-

The next thing he knew was someone touching his face and calling out his name. He scrunched up his nose, wanting to go back into the warmth of sleep. Someone laughed softly above him and touched his face again.

“Pete.”

“Hmm.” He mumbled, keeping his eyes shut. 

“The baby is here.”

“What?!” Peter jolted up and Tony jerked back from him. “It’s here?” Peter asked.

“She is.” Tony replied as he smiled. Peter pushed himself up into a sitting position and Tony stood back up.

“It’s a girl?” Peter asked.

“Is it. Her name is Morgan.” Tony replied. He was smiling so Peter knew that was a good thing.

“And both her and Pepper are just fine Peter.” Rhodey spoke up. He was no longer sitting next to Peter, but standing across the room where Harley was looking half awake.

“Can I see her?” Peter asked. 

“Absolutely. That’s why I’m out here. To take all four of you in there.” Tony replied. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes to try to wake him up and Tony smiled at him. Peter pushed himself up until he was standing up next to Tony. The man slung his arm around his shoulders, and lead him into the room, with the other three behind them. 

Pepper was lying in the bed, looking exhausted but smiling as Peter and Tony came into the room with the others following. She was holding a bundle in her arms that was wrapped up in pink, a tiny hand sticking out the top that was waving about slightly.

“Harley. Peter. Come over here.” Pepper said softly and Tony shoved Peter forward lightly. He stumbled closer to the bed to see the baby. Pepper adjusted the blankets slightly until Peter and Harley could see the tiny face. The babies eyes were open and she looked alert. 

“Oh.” Peter gasped slightly as the baby locked eyes with him. He put his hand closer to her face and she grabbed onto a finger with her tiny hand. 

“Oh.” Peter gasped again as he stared at the baby. Her eyes were dark like Tony’s, and the small amount of hair on her head was also dark. 

“She looks like you.” Harley said to Pepper who smiled and shook her head.

“She looks like Tony.” 

“She’s wonderful Tony.” Peter heard Rhodey say quietly to Tony from behind them.

“Thanks Rhodey.” Tony responded quietly.

-

“I love her.” Peter whispered as he sat in the hospital room with Morgan in his arms. The room was quiet as Rhodey and Happy had both left, and Harley was asleep in one of the chairs across the room while Pepper slept in the hospital bed.

“Yeah?” Tony asked Peter from where he sat next to him. He had his hand on the back of the blankets, helping to support Peter’s arms. 

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. 

Tony’s phone buzzed at that moment and he looked down to pull it out before looking at the text  and putting it back down. It buzzed again a moment later and he repeated the action. Peter just looked at him, with his eyebrows raised in question.

“Nat and Steve. Congratulating us. I’ll text them back later.” Tony answered.

 He put his hand back on the blankets. Morgan was fast asleep, her tiny face scrunched up even as she slept. Peter pulled his hand up to lightly run his finger down the little face. Morgan scrunched up her nose even more and sighed before her face evened out. 

“What is her middle name?” Peter asked. 

“Hogan.” Tony replied and Peter raised his eyes back up to look at Tony.

“What?” 

“It’s Hogan.” Tony replied.

“Um, can I say something?” Peter asked hesitantly. 

“Go for it.” 

“That’s a terrible name for a girl.” Peter said and Tony instantly started laughing at him. 

“I know bud, but you try telling Pepper that. She wanted something for Happy but didn’t want to actually name her Happy. I don’t argue with Pepper. Especially when she’s screaming in pain after-”

“You can stop.” Peter cut Tony off quickly, not needing to hear any more of what Tony was going to say. The man laughed again and even Peter found himself smiling. Morgan’s eyes opened at the sound, and she stared at Peter without blinking.

“Hi baby.” He crooned at Morgan, who simply closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.    
“Okay then.” He said as Tony laughed again.

-

“Put her head there. No, there. There.” Pepper instructed Tony as he grappled with the straps of the carseat. Peter just watched from where he was standing by the car with Harley and Happy. 

“I knew this would happen.” Happy remarked and both Harley and Peter smirked. 

“Tony, her head goes there.”

“I know how this works Pepper.”

“You don’t seem like it.”

“This is exactly why I didn’t get involved.” Happy said and Peter laughed slightly.

“Tony, pull that strap up. No- that one.”

“You go ahead and do it then Pep.”

Tony stepped back from the car and Pepper pushed back past him to get the carseat all set up. Peter could see Morgan in the car seat, fast asleep and oblivious to the fact that her parents were arguing over the car seat. Pepper had the car seat fully done up in just a few minutes and stepped back. 

“I love you.” Tony said and Pepper just gave him a look, before smiling at him. 

“Genius can’t even figure out a car seat.” Pepper teased and Tony just shrugged. 

Pepper motioned towards Harley, Peter and Happy and motioned them towards the car. Peter grinned as they moved towards the car- it was an SUV that Tony had bought and wanted to deck out more colorfully than the black color than it was, but Rhodey had shot them one down. Happy slipped into the driver's seat with Tony in the passenger seat. Harley and Peter slipped into the back seats while Pepper sat next to Morgan who was still fast asleep. She reached a hand over to put on Morgan’s tiny leg as Happy pulled out and headed back towards the Tower. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen the movie and might be going to see it again, which will actually be really helpful to this fic if I do- but I can't remember all the dialogue or exactly what happens, so I apologize if anything goes off book at all. I mean, I will be going off book as this is a fix-it, but I hope you all know what I mean.
> 
> I have zero idea how long this will be.
> 
> Please comment or kudos to let me know if you like the idea, or if you have any constructive criticism. I am also up for any suggestions of ideas that you have that I can include too!


End file.
